Cycles of Life
by Technuma
Summary: My very own personal P.O.V. on the series. Old characters return, new characters appear, new situations, and more than one surprise to pop up while reading. Go ahead, read and enjoy.
1. Kitchen Problems

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
I recently realized that my stories had a strong element of   
continuity, a direction that I`m taking although I`m not quite sure   
right now where it will lead. In this spirit, I decided to rewrite   
all of my earlier fanfics so that I may be able to link them together   
(not to mention write out a few errors and typos). Consider this my   
"beta version" of the story.  
  
For those of you not familiar with the original japanese names of   
the Sailor Moon characters, here`s a quick reference:  
  
Serena = Tsukino Usagi  
Amy = Mizuno Ami  
Lita = Kino Makoto  
Mina = Aino Minako  
Raye = Hino Rei  
Darian = Chiba Mamoru  
Tuxedo Mask = Tuxedo Kamen  
Neflyte = Nephrite  
Malachite = Kunzite  
The negaverse = the dark kingdom  
the negaforce = Queen Metallia  
Chad = Yuuichiro  
Serena`s mom and dad = Tsukino Ikuko and Tsukino Kenji  
Andrew = Motoki  
Molly = Osaka Naru  
Melvin = Gurio Umino  
the negamoon = the dark moon  
Rini = Chibi-Usa  
  
Whenever I use an american name, it just means I wasn`t able to find   
the original name.  
  
  
This first story takes place during the Sailor Moon R season, just   
before the "Food Fetish" episode.  
  
Now, on with the show.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE ONE  
  
KITCHEN PROBLEMS  
  
In some obscure reality pocket linked to our own universe grew a   
lonely tree. It was a truly frightning sight, both awe inspiring   
and horrifying at once, insuring its evil growth through stolen   
life force. Since it could not move to find energy by itself, it   
relied on two young aliens to bring its subsistance. Alan and Ann   
supplied the Doomtree with all the energy they could steal from   
humans and in return it gave them the energy they needed to live.  
  
Once a magnificent and blooming tree, it had gradually lost its   
splendor over time and did not look healthy anymore. It was dying.  
  
"Alan, the Doomtree is withering faster every day. We can`t let it   
die or we`ll perish as well!" said Ann.  
  
"You`re right, Ann. The human energy is doing no good and I don`t   
know why." said Alan.  
  
"What will happen to us? We can`t die on this planet after coming   
all this way to feed!"  
  
"Don`t worry Ann, we`ll find something, I promise." Alan said with a   
thoughtful look on his face.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi slept in a state akin to coma as she always did, dreaming of   
her prince who just couldn`t remember her love.  
  
"Mmmm... Mamoru, come back to me..." she mumbled through her sleep.  
  
Somehow, she managed to open an eye and peeked at her alarm clock.   
She jumped into hyperdrive and reached full panic mode four seconds   
later.  
  
"EIGHT TWENTY-FIVE?!? I`m so late, why didn`t anyone wake me up for   
school?"  
  
Usagi slipped in her clothes and ran down the stairs; to her surprise,   
Ami, Rei and Minako were in the dining room waiting for her. They were   
wearing casual clothes instead of school uniforms.  
  
"About time you woke up, meatball head." said Rei.  
  
"Why aren`t you guys at school already?" Usagi asked, puzzled.  
  
"It`s a holiday today, there is no class. You forgot about our shopping   
day, haven`t you?" said Ami with a slightly moking tone.  
  
"I didn`t forget... well, not... really!" Usagi tried to reply.  
  
"So why are you dressed for school?" asked Minako.  
  
"I`ll go change, I`ll be back in five minutes. Say, where`s Makoto?"   
Usagi wondered.  
  
"She`s going to see a friend of hers who owns a restaurant, remember?   
Makoto said she`d prepare us dinner with the recipes she`d learn   
today. You of all people should have remembered that!" said Rei.  
  
* * *  
  
Not quite everyone woke up early that day; Makoto was still very much   
asleep at nine o`clock. After waking up and taking a long shower, she   
took time to eat a very elaborate breakfeast. Food was an important   
part of Makoto`s life, as much for eating it as preparing it. That`s   
exactly why she was paying a visit to her friend Cassidy Carter, a   
top level gourmet chef who owned a restaurant downtown. Cassidy was   
a lot of fun to be with and she also gave Makoto plenty of cooking   
tips.  
  
Of course, she would have liked to go shopping with her friends, but   
she did it often while chances to go see Cassidy were few and far   
between. She had to seize every chance she got.  
  
Around eleven o`clock, she entered Cassidy`s restaurant; not many   
people where there yet, but that would change quickly when lunchtime   
rolled around. She noticed that Mamoru was sitting at a table in a   
corner, having an early lunch.  
  
"Hey, Mamoru! I didn`t expect to see you here." she said.  
  
"Hello, Makoto. I don`t really have a special place to eat, I just   
go where I feel. Today, it`s here." he replied.  
  
He picked up a bite on his fork while Makoto left for the kitchen,   
but he called her back before she was out of earshot.  
  
"Since you`re here, Makoto, could you do me a favor and tell Usagi to   
stop following me around like a puppy? She keeps acting like we`re in   
love or something."  
  
"I`ll tell her." she said.  
  
Poor Usagi, Makoto thought. She loved Mamoru very much and he loved   
her too, only he couldn`t remember anything about it. If only she   
could help them...  
  
"Makoto, you`re here!" said Cassidy who poked her head out of the   
kitchen.  
  
"Cassidy, it`s been way too long since the last time I came!" said   
Makoto, happy to see her old friend again.  
  
"Slap on an apron and come on in my kitchen, there`s always room for   
the most promising chef in town!"  
  
* * *  
  
On the rooftops across the street appeared the two young aliens who   
did not even take the precaution of hiding their true shape. They   
looked at Cassidy`s place with great interest.  
  
"So, Alan, why are we here? Is it an energy source?" asked Ann.  
  
"It certainly is. The human energy we got so far doesn`t seem to be   
helping the doomtree. I`ve given this a lot of thought. Since the   
humans get energy from the food they eat, maybe some well-fed humans   
will provide the special kind of energy the doomtree needs." answered   
Alan.  
  
"Sounds like a good plan." agreed Ann.  
  
Alan pulled out of nowhere a handful of blank playing cards, showing   
them to Ann.  
  
"Pick a cardian, Ann. Make a good choice, the doomtree is counting   
on us."  
  
"Don`t I ALWAYS choose well?" she said, pointing at one of the cards.  
  
The card floated out of Alan`s hand and the drawing of a snake woman   
appeared on it as it flew into the sky. Alan played his flute to   
which the card reacted immediately, transforming into a monstrous   
reptile-like woman.  
  
"Cardian Firebrand, I summon you!" said Alan in a commanding voice.  
  
"At your sssservice!" hissed the cardian.  
  
"Go to that crowded restaurant down there and drain everyone you   
can find! Bring us plenty of energy." ordered Alan.  
  
"Conssssider it done, masssster." she replied in her snakelike voice.  
  
Firebrand flew down and entered the restaurant busy with the lunchtime   
crowd.  
  
"All we have to do now is wait." said Alan.  
  
"And enjoy the show!" added Ann.  
  
* * *  
  
"Always remember that the first bite is with the eyes; presentation   
is critical!" said Cassidy to Makoto.  
  
"I know, you told me so a zillion times." she replied.  
  
"That`s because it`s true."  
  
Interrupting the cooking lesson, the sound of panic and screams of   
fear rose from the dining room. Something weird was going on outside   
the kitchen for sure. They both looked through the small windows of   
the kitchen swing doors and saw... well... something! The patrons were   
all entangled in tendrils that emerged from Firebrand`s forearms and   
had their energy sucked out by the cardian who gorged itself on it.   
She was having a lot of fun doing so. The freak of nature then   
noticed the two spectators and did what could be approximated as a   
smile considering her twisted facial anatomy. Her smile showed a   
viscious row of sharp fangs.  
  
"More clientssss for Firebrand!" she screamed as she retracted her   
tendrils.  
  
Though Makoto had never seen the she-thing before, she reckognized   
it as a cardian both from her physical appearance and her tendancy   
to scream her own name. Cardians were funny that way.  
  
"I don`t know what that monster is, but it`s attacking my customers!   
I have to do something!" said Cassidy who picked up a heavy frying   
pan and charged boldly forward on the monster who clearly didn`t   
expect such resistance from puny humans. "Take that, miss   
no-manners!" yelled Cassidy as her pan made contact with the   
cardian`s head repeatedly.  
  
All alone in the kitchen, Makoto pulled her special transformation   
pen from her pocket- she needed real power to take care of this one.  
  
"JUPITER POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
Blazing chains of lightning surrounded Makoto, fading away her   
regular clothes for a green sailor scout uniform. She ran to the   
dining room to find Firebrand draining Cassidy who was trying to   
fight her off. The chef fell down unconscious like the other   
customers.  
  
"Yessss, ssssurrender your energy to me, little human." said the   
cardian as Cassidy hit the floor.  
  
"Leave these people alone, snake face! I am Sailor Jupiter, here   
to defend the innocent from freaks like you!"  
  
"Ah, another ssssource of energy for Firebrand!" said the beast.   
She retracted her tendrils, standing ready to fight. Her left hand   
suddenly caught on fire. "Let me demonsssstrate my power, sssstupid   
girl!"  
  
Shots of leaping flames roared in Jupiter`s direction, incinerating   
a table and a few chairs. Had she not dodged, she`d be quite busy   
incinerating herself.  
  
"Whoa, that was too close for comfort." she said.  
  
"Quick girl you are. Let`ssss ssssee how well you fight!" commented   
the she-thing.  
  
The cardian rushed Makoto like a maniac with claws outstretched but   
missed her target who dropped to the floor and tripped her to the   
ground. Fast as lightning, Jupiter got back up on her feet and kicked   
the cardian in the stomach several times until Firebrand grabbed her   
ankle and sent her flying through the kitchen doors. Her landing was   
NOT delicate.  
  
Firebrand followed her in, her clawed feet stomping loudly with each   
step. She pushed open the door looking for her victim; oddly enough,   
she seemed to have vanished. The sound of moaning from behind the   
central preparation table, however, tipped off the evil creature.  
  
"Come, ssssweetie, give me what I want."  
  
Tendrils emerged from her forearms, wrapping around Makoto`s neck   
and forcefully squeezing the life out of her body.  
  
"Can`t... move... need... help..." she tried to say.  
  
A white rose flew out of nowhere, slashing the tendrils and   
releasing the scout from the lethal embrace. It had been thrown by   
a man dressed in white arabian style clothes.  
  
(cue arabian sonata here)  
  
The moonlight knight was there for her.  
  
"Even the most delicate rose can possess the strenght of mountains,   
Sailor Jupiter. You have great power in yourself, power enough to   
defeat this horrid creature without fail." he said in a delightful   
voice.  
  
"Sssstay out of thissss!" hissed the cardian. She tried to roast him   
with a fireball but only succeeded in igniting a small fire on an   
oven.  
  
"Here, lizard breath, catch me if you can!" screamed Jupiter,   
waiting for the monster near the back kitchen wall.  
  
"With pleassssure I will!"  
  
The cardian swung a charging punch at Sailor Jupiter, screaming her   
head off as she charged. Jupiter moved out of the way at the last   
moment, letting Firebrand sink her fist right into the restaurant`s   
fuse box with the unfortunate result of sending 220 volts of   
electricity in her body. The beast was barely able to scream in   
agony, paralyzed by the sheer strenght of Tokyo`s power grid.  
  
"Shocking, don`t you think?" said Jupiter. "Here`s looking at you,   
kid!"  
  
A thundrous cluster of lightning charged on her tiara, ready to   
shoot off at the monstrous creature.  
  
"JUPITER... THUNDER... CRASH!!!"  
  
The sizzling thunder attack, multiplied tenfold by the power surge   
in the cardian`s body, destroyed Firebrand in an instant. She   
reverted back into a card and fell down on the floor. Only the   
drawing remained for a moment until it darkened away in a cloud of   
black brimstone.  
  
"Don`t mess with lightning if you don`t want to get fried!" said the   
triumphant Sailor Jupiter. She looked around, but the moonlight   
knight was gone.  
  
* * *  
  
"Well, Ann, it looks like the scouts win yet another round."   
said Alan.  
  
"Don`t look so glum, Alan. We did get a lot of energy and eventually   
we`ll win the war.!"  
  
"We better do it fast- at this rate we`ll run out of cardians soon."  
  
"As long as we`re together, Alan, nothing can stop us." Ann said,   
hugging Alan.  
  
"You`re right, my darling, we can`t lose that way."  
  
A moment later they were gone.  
  
* * *  
  
After their busy day, the girls were amazed at the incredible dinner   
Makoto had prepared.  
  
"Mmmm, thish vood ish belicioush, Makodo!" said Usagi with her mouth   
full.  
  
"Take your time, Usagi, there`s enough for everybody, plus dessert   
afterwards." said Makoto.  
  
"I heard there was trouble at the restaurant today." said Rei.  
  
"Yeah, but I handled it just fine with a little help from a friend."   
she replied.  
  
Makoto thought about the knight again and how much he reminded her   
of her ex-boyfriend; romantic, suave, heroic and so cute! Yes, she   
would have to find out who he was and if he was seeing anyone right   
now.  
  
The End  
  
* * *  
  
I`ve initially written this story as a thank you gift to a friend   
who first got me to write Sailor Moon fanfics; a big fan of Sailor   
Jupiter, he thinks the show should be renamed after her.  
  
This one story is the only one taking place in the first part of   
the Sailor Moon R serie, so Makoto`s search for the moonlight knight   
pretty much ends here. Starting next episode, events will begin   
veering off course from the actual TV serie, leading into new   
adventures the likes of wich DIC would probably never dare show   
on north american network television.  
  
Many of these stories will deal with important social issues   
touching teenagers such as drinking, smoking, suicide and many   
others which you will reckognize as they occur. I`ve done my best   
not to sound too preachy or like a bad afterschool special.   



	2. Finl Vengeance

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
This story happens some time during the Sailor Moon R serie, just   
after Alan and Ann left earth but before Chibi-Usa dropped in on   
Usagi and Mamoru. Something pretty big DID happen in between   
the battles with the doomtree and the wiseman!  
  
Before I begin, one little note concerning my first version of this   
story: every instance of the word "vengence" was misspelled as   
"vengeance" wich is really the FRENCH spelling of the word. This   
is the kind of error a french speaking man such as myself would make   
while writing in english. There are probably more of these in my   
stories, but I`m doing my best to erradicate them.  
  
Now, on with the show!  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE TWO  
  
FINAL VENGENCE  
  
  
After Queen Beryl`s defeat at the hands of Sailor Moon, Usagi and   
her one great love Mamoru lost all of their memories of the dark   
kingdom and so did the other sailor scouts. For a short while, they   
returned to their normal lives blissfully unaware that they ever   
fought the evil of Beryl and her sinister henchmen Jedite, Nephryte,   
Zoisite and Kunzite. When a new threat arose from the forces of   
evil, Luna restored Usagi`s memories to enable her to fight Alan and   
Ann`s energy sucking cardians. Luna then did the same for the other   
scouts when Sailor Moon couldn`t do it all by herself. Mamoru, for   
some strange reason, just didn`t remember any of this, not even his   
love for the now very lonely Usagi.  
  
For weeks she chased him, trying to revive his memory and force him   
to remember, to no avail. Ann did her best to snatch him away for   
herself while Alan attempted to seduce Usagi, both of them failing   
miserably. After a brutal encounter with the angry aliens and the   
raging doomtree, Mamoru recovered completely- with his love for   
Usagi reborn and the alien menace gone, the two of them were finally   
free to be a young couple in love.  
  
A full moon glithered over Tokyo as Usagi and her boyfriend enjoyed   
their romantic dinner at Mamoru`s appartment. They had just finished   
eating and admired the night sky so full of gleaming stars from the   
balcony. Usagi seemed to be lost in her thoughts.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts, meatball head." he said.  
  
"This is all very wonderful, muffin, we`re together, the earth is   
safe, our lives are beginning in a world full of promise..."  
  
"But...?"  
  
Mamoru looked deep in her eyes and she knew that he understood her   
completely. No matter what might happen, he`d always be there for   
her.  
  
"Well..." she said softly, "I miss being Sailor Moon. It`s been so   
long since I`ve been the champion of love and justice, fighting   
against evil with my dream protector by my side, defeating the dark   
kingdom at every turn."  
  
He smiled at her in that special way that always made her heart sing.  
  
"Then why not do it right now?" he suggested.  
  
"Transform? Here?"  
  
He nodded to tell her yes. She smiled and carefully opened her   
brooch, revealing the silver crystal entrusted to her by her mother   
Queen Serenity.  
  
"MOON CRYSTAL POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
Usagi`s clothes faded away in a soft glowing light to be replaced   
by the sailor uniform she had put on every time she fought evil.   
Mamoru never got tired of watching her transform, as she looked like   
an angel when she did. It felt wonderful to her, becoming Sailor   
Moon once more if only to feel the surge of power in her body. By   
her side, Mamoru changed himself into the seductive Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
He handed a blooming red rose to Sailor moon. She smelled its   
delicate aroma, sweet as her loving boyfriend.  
  
"Soft and blooming with a delightful smell that has inspired poets   
and musicians for millenias, yet strong and capable of inflicting   
terrible wounds when defending itself from the most dangerous foes.   
However, touch it with tender care and never will you forget its   
gentleness. This rose is you, my dearest Sailor Moon."  
  
"Thank you, my Tuxedo Kamen. You filled my dreams for so long and   
now you are here with me."  
  
The dream hero dressed in tuxedo lifted the moon princess in his   
arms and leapt swiftly into the night, a cool breeze softly   
brushing their skin. Jumping from roof to roof, they stopped on   
the deserted rooftop of a high building where Tuxedo Kamen gently   
put Sailor Moon down on her feet. All around them and for a dozen   
miles, they could see thousands of scattered lights that breathed   
life in the sleeping city. From a distance, soft music made its way   
to their ears from no discernable direction. Tuxedo Kamen removed   
his mask and extended his open hand to Sailor   
Moon.  
  
"May I have this dance?" he asked.  
  
"I would love nothing more." she answered.  
  
Letting the music flow through their bodies, they danced away the   
rest of the evening knowing that never would they be alone again,   
for they had found true love with the one person they could call   
their soul mate.  
  
* * *  
  
Miles and miles away from Tokyo, a cutting wind was badly bruising   
a frozen and unforgiving wasteland devoid of life. As far as the eye   
could see, nothing but snow and ice. Under this barren land somewhere   
laid a huge block of solid crystal so evil in origin that no living   
soul would dare approach it. Hidden from view, it had been meant to   
remain there until the end of time.  
  
When princess Usagi clashed with Queen Beryl who was infused with   
Queen Metallias`s power, a huge amount of dark energy was released   
at once.  
  
Nothing is ever lost.  
  
The unleashed energy floated in a chaotic fashion until it found its   
way to the crystal wich resounded with harmonic vibrations,   
accumulating this energy. This solid chunk of crystal had a single   
molecular flaw upon its creation, microscopic in size. Slowly   
building up in power, the molecular flaw turned into a tiny crack.   
The crack kept growing in size as the sailor scouts fought Alan and   
Ann`s evil cardians, turning into a rather large fissure. At the   
very moment the doomtree went mad, the crystal cocoon shattered,   
liberating its prisoner. Digging slowly his way up through feets of   
tightly packed snow, the forsaken henchman of Beryl emerged into   
the bitter cold night.  
  
Jedite was free at last.  
  
Weakened by his captivity, he had lost all of his dark powers.   
Although the frozen blizzard could not kill his dark kingdom body,   
he could feel pain just as well as humans did. He wondered what he   
would do now that he was no longer trapped in his crystal prison;   
should he crawl back to Queen Beryl, she would surely kill him for   
good. Centuries of service to her had taught him that she never   
forgot nor forgave. On the other hand, he could run away with his   
life... but to go where? Beryl`s eyes where impossible to hide from,   
she would hunt him down mercilessly like a rabid dog. His choice was   
clear: he would walk back to his mistress who would then undoubtebly   
proceed to end his miserable existence in a single blast of pure   
rage. At last, he would get his final rest.  
  
So he walked, broken and cold, back to the palace that witnessed his   
fall from grace.  
  
* * *  
  
How long had Jedite walked? So weak he was that day and night seemed   
to blend together into a meaningless kaleidoscope fueled by his own   
despair. And then, just before he gave up on this endless walk, he   
finally reached the destination of his last voyage: the secret   
entrance to Queen Beryl`s fortress. He looked back upon his broken   
life for a moment; deeming himself ready to die, he entered. Surely   
Beryl had been aware of his escape from the very moment his jail   
released him; how much she must have enjoyed viewing from a distance   
his pathetic return in the desolate wastelands.  
  
He was surprised at the silence of the dark fortress; he did not   
remember the palace to be so quiet and empty.  
  
"Beryl, my queen, it is me, Jedite. I have returned to accept my   
punishment for escaping my crystal prison!" he yelled.  
  
No answer came to his servile request. Then again, why would she   
lower herself to talk to him, Jedite the disgraced, the failed one?   
He kept on walking, going deeper inside towards the throne room.  
  
"Nephryte, I`m back..."  
  
No answer. No Nephryte to taunt him and laugh at his fate. Maybe he   
was out on an energy gathering mission somewhere. If that was so,   
where were all the youmas that should have been guarding the   
fortress? He should have been intercepted by now. Or at least, he   
should have met someone. Anyone.  
  
"Kunzite, are you there?"  
  
Still no answer. Jedite was beginning to worry. At this point, he   
would have been happy to hear the tauntings of that little twerp   
Zoisite. Without meeting anyone at all, he made it to the throne   
room. It then struck him that his calls would go unanswered. Beryl`s   
crystal ball laid smashed on the floor amidst the remains of a black   
crystal and a long dead rose. Queen Metallia`s awesome presence was   
gone for good as well. Jedite was truly and utterly alone, the   
last remnant of a fallen empire.  
  
He fell to his knees and wept in agony.  
  
Sailor Moon had taken his away his life and his freedom already-   
now she had denied him death. Oh, how much he despised this little   
sailor brat. How much he wanted to tear off those blonde ponytails   
to strangle her with, to rip off every ounce of flesh from her   
bones and remove her still beating heart with his bare hands. If   
he was denied death, he would settle for savage, bloody vengence.  
  
While Usagi and Mamoru celebrated their love for each other, Jedite   
cried in terrible, tearing pain.  
  
* * *  
  
Although there was no real need for the sailor scouts anymore, they   
still enjoyed to meet every day at the Cherry Hill temple after   
school. These meetings were the ideal occasion to talk and have fun   
as well as plan activities.  
  
"So, Usagi, how did your date with Mamoru go yesterday?" asked   
Makoto.  
  
"Yeah, tell us everything with a lot of details!" Rei added.  
  
"You are SO curious, you guys! Can`t a girl have a single date   
without all of you begging for a detailed account?" protested Usagi.  
  
"NO! " answered all at once the other girls and both cats.  
  
"Well, if you must know, it was simply wonderful and romantic,   
that`s all I`ll say." she said.  
  
"Hey, how about we go out for a milkshake at that new place? They   
have an exterior terrasse!" Minako suggested.  
  
"I`d love to, Minako, but Mamoru`s meeting me later." said Usagi   
with a look that spelled out "I`m really sorry".  
  
"Greg is coming home to study math, latin and calculus." said Ami.  
  
"I promised Yuuichiro I`d go to a movie with him. It was the only   
way to stop him from singing in the temple this week." added Rei.  
  
"Well, Minako, looks like it`s you, me and the cats!" Said Makoto   
with a smile.  
  
* * *  
  
Fortunately for Jedite, the remains of Beryl`s crystal ball still   
contained a very small amount of residual energy, just enough to   
teleport to Tokyo and set up a way to gather more. He carefully   
absorbed every last bit and concentrated on the city where he knew   
Sailor Moon lived. In an unholy fashion, he disappeared from the   
palace, never to return.  
  
He rematerialized in an empty downtown store wich he then remodeled   
according to his twisted needs. The humans would not realize what   
he was doing until it was too late to stop him.  
  
* * *  
  
The sun started its slow descent to the horizon as Luna, Artemis   
and Makoto discussed the many merits of actor/martial artist Jackie   
Chan and his contribution to action movies over a milkshake. For   
some reason, Minako had barely touched hers and paid no attention   
to the conversation whatsoever, her gaze vaguely staring at her   
glass.  
  
"You know, Minako, he does all of his own stunts!" said Makoto who   
tried to pull her into the conversation.  
  
"Huh uh." she absent-mindedly replied.  
  
"He never uses any computer special effects." added Luna.  
  
"Huh uh."  
  
"Your hair is on fire." said Artemis.  
  
"Huh uh."  
  
"Earth to Minako! Come back down with us for a moment!" said Makoto.  
  
Artemis knew her well and immediately reckognized she wasn`t feeling   
good.  
  
"What`s the matter, Minako? Chocolate shakes usually quiver at the   
very mention of your name and you haven`t taken more than two sips   
on yours so far. Something`s eating you up, I can tell." he said.  
  
Minako looked at the white cat, her face blank of expression.  
  
"Artemis, would you and Luna leave for a moment so I could talk with   
Makoto? It`s a bit personal..."  
  
"Oooooh, guy problems, huh? Come on, Luna, let`s give the girls some   
privacy."  
  
The cats jumped off the table and scampered away promptly. Minako   
stared at Makoto; she looked as if she was on the verge of breaking   
down in tears.  
  
"Do you know how long it`s been since my last date? Since ANY guy   
has paid any attention to me at all?!?"  
  
"So THAT`s what`s been working you up?"  
  
"Yes! Usagi`s madly in love with Mamoru, Ami has Greg and I strongly   
suspect Rei of not telling us everything that`s going on between her   
and Yuuichiro. Bottom line: everyone`s in love except me."  
  
"I don`t have a boyfriend either, it`s not the end of the world or   
anything."  
  
"So you say. I feel so lonely right now, it`s all I can think of.   
Like my love life is some huge, monstrous, gaping sinkhole   
swallowing all it touches."  
  
"Whoa, how long have you been feeling this way?"  
  
"A long time, I guess. Being Sailor V and then Sailor Venus kept me   
distracted. While we were running around after Zoisite and those   
other maniacs, I didn`t have time to think about it. Now that`s it`s   
over, it seems worse than it ever was before."  
  
"Maybe you`re just trying too hard to find love, Minako. Love is not   
something you can find by looking everywhere for it, I know from   
experience. Give it time, you`ll meet a great guy for sure."  
  
"I don`t know, I simply don`t feel guys find me attractive anymore."  
  
"Are you serious? I`d kill to look as gorgeous as you! You`re so   
beautiful, I`m sure you`ll meet prince charming when you least expect   
him. Let`s face it, Minako, you have it all!"  
  
"Maybe you`re right..."  
  
"Not maybe, I AM right! "  
  
"Thanks, Makoto, I feel better now."  
  
"Wanna go see a movie? No romantic stuff, just hunky guys beating   
each other senseless and blowing up the whole screen to bits!"  
  
"Yeah, that sounds good. Let`s pick up the cats and go right now."  
  
"Aren`t you going to finish your shake first?"  
  
Minako picked up the glass and swallowed it all in one huge gulp.  
  
"All done now, let`s go!" Minako said before she slammed down the   
empty glass.  
  
Makoto was happy that her friend felt better; to her, being a sailor   
scout not only meant saving the universe from evil but also having   
the greatest friends in the world.  
  
* * *  
  
In downtown Tokyo, shops open and shut down their operations every   
day at a hectic pace with new stores replacing those that went out   
of business the day before. In such an ever-changing marketplace,   
no one noticed that an empty shop was turned into a top-class dance   
club overnight, litteraly. "Club Crystal" opened its doors to the   
public that evening and the turnout was quite positive.  
  
Good music, a superb dance floor, lasers, strobe lights and even an   
authentic american mirror ball gave the place a feeling like no   
other. On top of this, add a disc jockey with a seductive voice who   
gave it all to the public all evening long and the final result was   
the hotest new dance club in town. At the stroke of midnight,   
everyone went home unbelievably tired but content from their evening   
of wild dance. Club Crystal was a rousing success.  
  
Now that the club was closed for the night, the DJ decided it was   
about time to slip in something comfortable; he switched from his   
jeans, jacket and running shoes back into his purple and grey dark   
kingdom uniform and leather boots with the wave of a hand.  
  
"I can`t stand human clothes." said Jedite.  
  
He quickly counted the money he made from the admitance fee- he   
had to make his. club look real, after all; a nice sum, he could   
even make a good living from out of it... if it wasn`t just a cover   
for his revenge.  
  
"Now for the REAL profits." Jedite said with a large grin on his   
face.  
  
He slowly floated above the dance floor and hovered next to the   
mirror ball. It started to glow dark red at his presence and   
reemited the energy it leeched off the people who danced all evening.   
Jedite absorbed every bit of power and felt quite revitalized from   
it. With all the energy he would get from this setup, he would   
easily crush those who had destroyed his life: the sailor scouts   
and their little caped protector. He would track them down and kill   
them all... unless, of course, they found out his hiding place   
before then, as they always did in the past.  
  
That would greatly simplify matters.  
  
The stolen lifeforce completely absorbed, he had no business in the   
club until the next evening. He looked at the money he made; what   
would he do with it?  
  
"I might as well use it, I suppose. It could help me in my search   
to locate the scouts and preserve my powers until the appropriate   
time comes." he thought.  
  
He reverted back to human clothes to his great discomfort and   
locked up his place. He checked in a hotel room for the night and   
tried to figure where to look to find the scouts; he remembered their   
faces, etched forever in his mind, but ignored their names. By   
finding out more about them, he could create a better, crueler plan   
to exact his vengence.  
  
* * *  
  
The following day, Jedite spent walking around searching for the   
three girls he hated so much. In doing so, he went through several   
parks, shoping malls, restaurants, shops and many, many other places   
young girls might go to on a saturday afternoon. Despite walking   
down more streets he knew existed, the girls where nowhere to be   
found.  
  
Since he had another hour to kill before he opened his club for the   
evening, he decided to save his strenght and relax. Over the course   
of the day, he had seen countless people eating strange foods of   
all sorts- he knew it was essential for human survival but couldn`t   
understand WHY they enjoyed it so much; if Jedite had such a grave   
physical weakness, he certainly wouldn`t make such a big deal over   
it, quite the opposite, he`d keep it secret. Still, he wanted to   
know so he was going to try some food for himself. For his first meal   
ever, he chose a small terrasse restaurant and sat down at an empty   
table. The menu was filled with strangely named items such as *pizza*,   
*hamburger* and *onion rings*. He had heard many of these words   
pronounced by humans, though he never quite understood what they   
meant. He chose a "cheeseburger" because it reminded him of a   
lunarian word in a poem he once read on the moon kingdom where he   
shortly served as an ambassador for Beryl before Queen Metalia   
turned it into a smoking ash heap. He told his selection to the   
waitress.  
  
"It comes with a soda and french fries." she said.  
  
"That will be fine " he coldly answered.  
  
His food arrived a few minutes later. Most of these items he had   
seen the humans eat, but what effect they would have on his system   
he wasn`t sure. As he mustered his courage to start eating, he   
caught movement in the corner of his eye and he lifted his head up;   
turning her back to him, a girl with long blonde hair was sitting   
at the table in front of his. Could it possibly be HER? Had he   
found Sailor Moon by sheer dumb luck?  
  
Rage awakened inside of him and boiled intensely; Jedite tried to   
remember his original plan and calm down but anger chased every   
ounce of self-control out of him. He stood up quietly and walked   
up to her, his hands ready to crush her neck and end her life on   
the spot. Minako felt his presence and turned around. Jedite realized   
immediately that this WASN`T Sailor Moon, nor was her brunette friend   
Sailor Mercury or Mars. Minako stared at the stunningly handsome guy   
who just stood there saying nothing.  
  
"Can I help you?" she asked.  
  
He had to think fast- any suspicious behavior on his part could   
endanger his efforts to blend in and ruin his plan; he needed to   
say something mundane and appropriate for the situation.  
  
"May I borrow the salt, please?" he said in a soft, hushed tone.  
  
Yes, that was good, it was innocent and meaningless.  
  
"Sure, here you go." she said, handing him over the salt shaker.  
  
He went back to his meal, relieved not to have done any damage to   
his cover. Jedite added a little salt to his food in order to look   
more convincing; humans did this often, for no apparent reason. His   
first bite was a revelation of sorts- a mix of texture and taste that   
made him want to continue eating. He swallowed the bite and   
discovered he enjoyed the way food felt going down to his stomach.   
As he continued eating, he swore silently to control his anger until   
he could unleash it all on Sailor Moon. As far as he could remember,   
Jedite had trouble controlling the boiling rage in his heart; getting   
crushed under the landing gear of a jumbo jet during his last battle   
with the scouts did nothing to improve his character, either.  
  
Patience and focus always win the battle, Kunzite liked to say.  
  
"Say, Makoto..." whispered Minako, "did that guy`s request sound as   
transparent as I think it did?"  
  
"It sure did. He`s already got salt on his table!"  
  
"He`s very handsome..." commented Minako.  
  
"Why don`t you go talk to him?"  
  
"I don`t know..."  
  
"You saw the way he was looking at you! He obviously wanted to talk,   
but he was too shy to do it; I can tell by the way he froze up when   
you turned around, I`ve seen it a thousand times." explained Makoto.  
  
"I love shy guys, they`re always so sweet." said Minako, peeking at   
Jedite.  
  
Jedite ate the last bite on his plate and washed it down with the   
sparkling drink; his meal had been a very unusual combination of   
sensory experiences. No wonder humans liked it so much! The blonde   
girl he almost killed a few minutes earlier came to him and sat at   
his table. Why was she doing this?  
  
"Hello, my name is Minako, what`s yours?" she asked.  
  
"My name is..." he uttered.  
  
A name! He needed a human name pronto- he couldn`t just say Jedite,   
he had to come up with something in a second.  
  
"... James." he finished.  
  
James?!? What kind of a name was that? She was going to see right   
through him right away!  
  
"That`s a nice name." she told him, a delicate smile on her lips.  
  
She was being so friendly to him, it made no sense! Whenever Tidas   
was nice to him, she always had some ulterior motive, but this girl   
had never met him before! What could she want from him? Maybe it   
was because Queen Beryl had threatened his life every time she spoke   
to him in the past that Minako made him feel so uncomfortable...   
like a huge darkbeast smiling before ripping your head off.  
  
"What do you do for a living?" she asked.  
  
"I just opened a new dance club. What about you?" replied Jedite. He   
was carrying on with the chit-chat as best he could without showing   
his tremendous unease.  
  
"I`m still a high school student." she answered.  
  
It then occured to Jedite that this girl could be useful to him,   
serve as a guide to the city and facilitate his search. Plus, she   
had a beautiful smile.  
  
"Look, I have to go to work now, you don`t suppose we could meet   
again tomorrow?" he asked.  
  
Minako`s eyes brightened up when he said this.  
  
"Sure! How about at twelve o`clock?"  
  
"That would be great. Would you like to meet me at the amusement   
park I saw a few blocks down the street?"  
  
"Okay, see you there James!"  
  
"Goodbye, Minako." said Jedite as he paid his bill and left.  
  
A few instants later, Minako and Makoto left too.  
  
"So, how did it go?" asked Makoto with excitement.  
  
"I`m seeing him again tomorrow! You were right, he was a bit shy at   
first but he opened up."  
  
"Good for you! He`s a nice catch, cute and all. He reminds me of my   
ex-boyfriend."  
  
"Somehow, I`m not surprised." Minako said, giggling.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako arrived home where a very impatient Artemis had been expecting   
her for a while.  
  
"About time you got here! I thought you girls would never stop   
talking. Good thing you were with Makoto, too; if it had been motor   
mouth Usagi, you`d still be there!" he said.  
  
"Oh, stop complaining. You know I wouldn`t let you sleep out in the   
cold, don`t you?"  
  
She unlocked the door and Artemis zoomed in faster than a door to   
door salesman. Minako hummed a joyous tune as she prepared a meal   
for the hungry white cat.  
  
"I`ve seen that smile on your face before." he said, smirking at   
Minako. "You met a guy, haven`t you?"  
  
"That`s none of your business, little mister." she answered.  
  
"Ha ha! You called me little mister! You never call me like that   
unless you`re trying to keep something from me!" he replied.  
  
"You know me too well, Artemis. Sometimes it can get annoying."  
  
"That`s why you love me, Minako!"  
  
She started to scratch Artemis`s stomach; he dropped on his back   
and purred like a jet engine.  
  
"I know you very well too!" she said.  
  
* * *  
  
Around midnight, Club Crystal closed its doors after another full   
night. About sixty patrons left the place so tired they could   
barely walk straight. Even though they didn`t remember much of the   
evening, they were all convinced they just had the greatest dance   
experience of their life.  
  
Jedite grew stronger from their energy each passing night.  
  
As he walked to his hotel, he thought of the human girl, Minako.   
He thought of her gentleness and how she had tried to touch his   
emotions. It was reassuring to him that his dark kingdom warrior   
training had made him immune to such blatant attempts to reach into   
his innermost self. Why did humans spend so much time and energy   
expressing their emotions, anyway? Maybe that was something he could   
use to his advantage, an extra ace up his sleeve. He could certainly   
use one more.  
  
* * *  
  
Rei lit up several incense sticks around the temple, filling the   
altar room with the delicate aroma. She then opened the large   
windows to let both the sunshine and the light morning breeze in,   
caressing her skin with gentle warmth and moving the wind chimes   
in a beautiful concert of soothing bell tones. She sat down in a   
rigid lotus position in an attempt to align her being with the   
whole of existence, her ultimate goal in life.  
  
A metallic noise disrupted her concentration; she opened her eyes   
to see a samurai in golden armor standing in front of her. A youma`s   
mask was hiding his face.  
  
"Why are you here?" Rei asked.  
  
The warrior removed the mask, but shadows concealed his face from   
view. For some reason, Rei was convinced this was a demon from her   
past.  
  
"To claim what is due to me." he answered.  
  
He unsheated his katana and plunged it in Rei`s chest before she   
could react, spilling her blood all over her traditionnal garbs and   
on the wooden floor. she fell over on her back, clutching the sword   
in a vain attempt to remove it from her body. The cold metal blade   
dug deep in the soft flesh of her hands, spreading even more of her   
precious life giving blood. As she struggled to breathe and the   
world turned black in front of her eyes, she heard the warrior laugh.  
  
"Your friends are next." he claimed.  
  
Rei woke up screaming in terror, shocked by the sheer horror of her   
terrible nightmare. This was certainly a vision of things to come,   
but what did it mean? Wich demon from her past couldbe coming back   
to haunt her and the scouts?  
  
The dark kingdom? It had been totally erradicated by the scouts.  
  
Alan and Ann? They left earth in love with each other, determined   
to rebuild their lives in peace.  
  
If only she had seen the face of the samurai warrior, she could try   
to avoid the fate her vision had revealed. After carefully verifying   
she wasn`t bleeding from any part of her body, she went back to a   
now dreamless slumber.  
  
* * *  
  
"I kept trying to pull it out of my chest, but my hands slipped on   
the blade and were deeply wounded. He laughed and said that my   
friends would be next; after that... I died." explained Rei to Makoto   
and Ami, leaving out not even the smallest detail.  
  
They listened carefully, not sure as to what to make of this mystical   
warning.  
  
"It sems someone wishes to see us come to harm." said Ami.  
  
"I haven`t been a sailor scout as long as you guys have; as anyone   
you fought escaped without being moondusted by Usagi? Or did you   
provoke someone who wants to even things out?" asked Makoto with   
concern.  
  
"Not that I can think of. All of our KNOWN enemies have been   
destroyed or returned to the side of good." said Rei.  
  
"But if we don`t know that enemy yet, how can it be a demon from our   
past like your vision said?" asked Makoto.  
  
"I might be on to something." said Ami. "In the past two days, my   
computer detected a few minor energy disturbances that I discarded   
as random electrical surges in the city`s power grid. In light of   
Rei`s vision, I think it might not be so random after all; I`ll   
write a program to track them down and identify them when they occur   
but I`ll need to pick up a couple of these disturbances if I am to   
make a good comparison search in my data bank."  
  
"So all we do now is wait, I guess." said Makoto.  
  
"And be careful! We have no idea what we`re up against. We`ll have   
to warn Usagi and Minako as soon as possible." said Rei.  
  
"Yeah, we`ll tell them when they`re back from their dates."   
concluded Makoto.  
  
"Say, Makoto, you`ve met Minako`s guy, haven`t you? Why don`t you   
tell us more about him?" asked Rei.  
  
"Yes, you`re the only one who saw him, tell us what he`s like!"   
added Ami.  
  
"He`s nice! Tall, blonde hair, athletic, a real looker. Plus, he`s   
got a voice that could make you melt in a second! He didn`t say   
much, though, because he`s really shy, but he seems very smart.   
I`m happy for her, she found someone special." described Makoto.  
  
"I hope we can see him soon!" Ami said with a smile.  
  
The brutal encounter would come only too soon.  
  
* * *  
  
Unaware just how dangerous a man Jedite was, Minako entered the   
Tokyo amusement park with the fallen henchman of Queen Beryl by her   
side for an afternoon of fun; not that Jedite actually knew what   
that meant.  
  
"I`ve never been here before." he said.  
  
"Never?"  
  
"No. I had little time to myself in my previous employ. I`d come   
to Tokyo on business for a short while and leave right after. I did   
plan to come here a few months ago, but my employer... shall we say,   
terminated my career." said Jedite, thinking of an energy   
gathering scheme in the amusement park he never got a chance to   
implement.  
  
"That`s too bad, there`s so much you missed. Today you don`t have to   
leave right away so you`ll enjoy yourself, okay?" Minako asked.  
  
"Okay." answered Jedite who kept alert in case he`d see one of the   
sailor scouts.  
  
She dragged him along on every ride she could find, beginning with   
the smoother ones to give him a chance to get the hang of it before   
they went on the bigger ones. Minako was pleasantly surprised to see   
that he showed no discomfort or fear, even in the most terrifying   
roller coasters.  
  
"Are you SURE you`ve never been here?" she asked, laughing.  
  
"It`s true. I did go to the fantasy land on the other side of town   
to meet one of my business associates, but I didn`t have time to try   
any rides." he answered, laughing. After all, an evil mecanical doll   
running a poison candy castle wouldn`t reckognize a good time if it   
bit her in the wireframe.  
  
For the first time of his life, Jedite laughed not out of cruelty   
but out of happiness- this human girl was really starting to get to   
him. He`d have to be more careful to conceal his plans for revenge,   
otherwise the scouts might find him out too soon.  
  
A game stand attendant behind them decided that these two might be   
potential customers and tried to get them to play his game.  
  
"Hey, mister, wanna try your skill? Real easy, you throw these rings   
on this empty bottle, here. Anyone can win one of these beautiful   
toys! How about winning a prize for the lovely lady? Only a hundred   
yens per try!" he said in a speech he yelled a thousand times each   
day.  
  
(author`s note: 100 yens equals about one US dollar)  
  
Jedite noticed how Minako was looking at the plush toys and made the   
irrational decision to get her one. It didn`t make sense, but he felt   
it would be a good idea to make her happy. Minako`s eyes glithered   
when he asked for the rings.  
  
"I`ll give this a try." he said.  
  
"Here you go, sir. If you place all three on the bottle, you win a   
prize of your choice."   
explained the attendant.  
  
Jedite observed the bottle two meters away and the three little red   
plastic rings. This was going to be SO EASY! He looked Minako   
straight in the eyes as he threw the first one without aiming. She   
was stunned to see the ring land right on target.  
  
"There`s one." he said.  
  
He then threw the second one from behind his back, over his   
shoulder. Bullseye again. Minako was mesmerized by such an amazing   
display of dexterity.  
  
"There`s two." he said.  
  
Jedite stared at the last ring in his hand and squinted slightly,   
discreetly charging it with a tiny amount of dark energy.  
  
"That`ll impress her. Just a little less energy won`t make much of   
a difference anyway." he thought.  
  
He threw the ring at the back wall of the stand with all of his   
strenght, bouncing it to the side wall and unto the bottle. Both   
Minako and the surrounding people were speechless.  
  
"And there`s three. Wich one do you like, Minako?" he said, smiling.  
  
She stood there amazed for a few seconds, dazed by what she just   
saw. When she snapped out of it, she chose a cute stuffed panda.  
  
"Thank you, James, it`s beautiful!"  
  
A minute after they left the stand, the attendant picked up the   
rings for his next customer; as he did so, the bottle crumbled   
into dust and the table underneath it collapsed.  
  
* * *  
  
Ami`s computer emitted a sharp beep just as she finished programming   
her energy signature analysis routine. The strange power surge had   
just occured again; much weaker than the previous occurances but   
strong enough still to register on the laptop`s detection systems.  
  
"There it is again! Now I can analyse this energy disturbance, it   
will only take a few moments. Afterwards, I`ll even be ready to   
track it down!" said Ami.  
  
Artemis and Luna, who had kept quiet until then, joined in the   
conversation.  
  
"By the time Usagi and Minako are back you should have results,   
right?" asked Artemis.  
  
Ami nodded to agree. The blue computer ran its program, comparing   
the energy readings it just got to all of those it got in the past.  
  
"Good thing too. A little serious business will help Usagi get her   
head out of the clouds for a change." commented Luna.  
  
"I don`t know about that. Even when Beryl was at her strongest,   
Usagi was still a bit spaced-out." said Artemis.  
  
* * *  
  
After their full afternoon at the amusement park, Minako and Jedite   
were getting ready to leave. Even though Jedite did find out any   
information about the scouts as he had hoped, he considered his day   
to be a good one. As time went by, he was starting to appreciate the   
company of this human girl.  
  
"This was fun." he said.  
  
"There`s a lot more to do in Tokyo, you know. Now that you have time   
to yourself, I`d like to show you if you like." Minako offered.  
  
"That would be nice." Jedite replied.  
  
"I have something for you..." she said.  
  
With her toy panda tucked under her arm, she searched through her   
purse to find something. She pulled out a pen wich she used to write   
a short message behind a picture. Minako then handed the picture   
of herself to Jedite.  
  
"I`m thinking about you! Minako." read the message. Under her name   
was also her phone number.  
  
She moved in close to Jedite and gave him a soft kiss.  
  
"Thank you for a wonderful day, James. Call me!" she said before   
leaving.  
  
The sinister man touched his lips, unsure what to make of the strange   
sensation he felt when Minako`s lips made contact with his. Like a   
miniature lightning bolt going through his mouth. At this point, he   
noticed another picture on the ground; Minako must have dropped it   
from her purse by accident while she was going through it for a pen.   
As he picked it up, he realized that this was a group picture of   
Minako, her friend from the restaurant and the three sailor scouts   
in plain city clothes!  
  
Minako was actually a friend of the scouts... now THERE was   
something he could use. He wasn`t quite sure if he`d be capable of   
using her as bait for the scouts, though... nonetheless, he was on   
the right track to finding the girls he hated with all his being.  
  
In the meantime, he would have to learn to use a telephone.  
  
* * *  
  
ANALYSIS COMPLETE:  
DATA INSUFFICIENT  
ENERGY SIGNATURE PROFILE- INCONCLUSIVE  
  
"Sorry, Rei, I`m going to need more data in order to get a reliable   
result." said Ami.  
  
"Too bad. I HATE having to wait with a sword hanging by a thread over   
my head." said Rei.  
  
"Are Minako and Usagi home yet? They should be returning soon now."   
said Makoto.  
  
"You know, Artemis, she`s right. We better be on our way too." said   
Luna.  
  
The cats hopped out the window and ran to their homes to wait for   
the girls.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako unlocked her front door and Artemis arrived at that moment.  
  
"Hello, Minako, how did your date go?"  
  
"Really great. Look at what James won for me at the amusement park!"  
  
"Nice panda. It`s bigger than me and Luna put together!"  
  
"Oh, Artemis, I`m so happy... I think I`m in love!"  
  
* * *  
  
Rock music filled Club Crystal once again as the crowd got larger   
than the previous nights. Word of mouth worked in Jedite`s favor and   
brought more people with every evening. The mirror ball slowly   
charged itself as the hours went by, draining precious energy from   
unsuspecting clients. Much to their surprise, the evening left them   
very, very tired.  
  
At midnight sharp, he closed for the night and proceeded to charge   
himself up from the stolen lifeforce. It felt good as usual, yet   
something was missing; he wasn`t getting the total satisfaction he   
always got from stealing human energy.  
  
He felt empty inside, like a part of himself was missing.  
  
* * *  
  
Ami woke up suddenly, disturbed in her sleep by a loud beeping sound.   
For a minute or so, she looked around in a catatonic stupor,   
incapable of connecting her thoughts in any meaningful fashion. It   
then occured to her where the sound was coming from. She picked up   
from her nightstand a small blue box adorned with the alchemical   
symbol of mercury, a powerful computer given to her by Luna. Ami had   
set it up so it would warn her when it picked up another power surge   
and locate its most likely source. Having finally obtained the data   
she needed, Ami turned on the computer and punched up the results:  
  
ANALYSIS COMPLETE:  
DATA COMPARISON- DONE  
ENERGY SIGNATURE PROFILE- IDENTIFIED  
SOURCE: DARK KINGDOM WARRIOR  
NAME: JEDITE  
MATCH PROBABILITY: 98.6%  
  
The percentage was blinking on and off, indicating a conclusive   
result.  
  
"Oh dear, it really IS a demon from our past!"  
  
She picked up her communicator and called Usagi.  
  
"Hmmmm.... (yawn).... who`s ... calling... (yawn)... so late?" Usagi   
tried say.  
  
"Usagi, it`s Ami. I`ve got the results of my computer analysis and   
it`s not good!"  
  
"Can`t this wait `till... (really big yawn)... tomorrow?"  
  
"Usagi... JEDITE IS STILL ALIVE!!! Chances are he`ll be coming after   
you, me and Rei! That`s what Rei`s dream meant, he wants revenge and   
our lives are in danger!"  
  
* * *  
  
The next day at school was no ordinary monday as the sailor scouts   
were very careful not to attract undue attention to themselves; if   
they did so, they might be noticed by the dark kingdom who was most   
likely hell-bent on vengence. The fact that he hadn`t manifested   
himself yet only made them more nervous as it probably meant he was   
cooking up some kind of plan.  
  
They immediatelt met after school to discuss the situation.  
  
"So Jedite`s back. This is very bad." said Usagi.  
  
"Hum, could you tell us more about Jedite?" asked Makoto.  
  
"That`s right, we joined the sailor scouts some time after he   
disappeared; we only got to fight Kunzite and Zoisite but you guys   
tangled with that Jedite freak before that, from what Ami told   
me." said Minako.  
  
The three sailor scouts who fought Jedite went on to explain what   
they knew about him:  
  
"Jedite was the very first one of the dark kingdom warriors sent by   
Queen Beryl. His specialty was to gather energy from large crowds to   
feed Queen Metallia. He is VERY powerful! I had to fight him one on   
one before I met Ami and Rei and he actually STOPPED my tiara in   
mid-flight!" described Usagi.  
  
"He sent one of his youmas to my computer class; every time we   
turned on a terminal, we`d be drained of our energy. It`s more than   
likely he has some energy gathering ploy in the works even as we   
speak." said Ami.  
  
"He`s a sly one. On more than one occasion he tricked people in   
serving him and then enslaved them to do his dirty business.   
The first time I met him, he managed to use the temple to kidnap   
our visitors." concluded Rei.  
  
"What are we going to do about it?" asked Usagi.  
  
"My computer wasn`t capable of pinpointing the location of the   
energy surge, so the next move is his." said Ami.  
  
The cats jumped in the discussion at this point.  
  
"Jedite knows the faces of Usagi, Ami and Rei but hasn`t attacked   
yet, so my guess is he doesn`t know your names. He saw you girls   
transform into the sailor scouts, not go home after the battle."   
said Luna.  
  
"You should lay low for a while until Ami detects his location.   
Stay home, that will keep you from bumping into Jedite by accident.   
Although Minako and Makoto have never met him, I think it would be   
safer if they kept to themselves too. Remember, until we know what   
he`s up to, we`re all in danger!" explained Artemis.  
  
"Usagi, call Mamoru and warn him as well; I`m pretty sure Jedite   
will come after Tuxedo Kamen when he goes for Sailor Moon." added   
Luna.  
  
"I wanted to take James to a movie tonight; I guess we`ll have to   
watch one on TV." said Minako, a bit disappointed.  
  
"It`s safer this way. Don`t worry, I`ll give you lovebirds some   
privacy." said Artemis.  
  
* * *  
  
"I`m bored." said Usagi.  
  
"You have homework to do, so get cracking." replied Luna.  
  
"You know, I`d like to meet Minako`s new boyfriend."  
  
"You also have a test next week."  
  
"I bet he`s really cute."  
  
"Get serious, Usagi."  
  
"I`m going right now!" said Usagi.  
  
"Have you forgotten about Jedite? If he reckognizes you, he`ll kill   
you!" argued Luna.  
  
"You`re right- I`ll just use the luna pen so he won`t be able to   
reckognize me at all." said Usagi.  
  
"That`s not what I mean!!!" protested the black cat.  
  
"LUNA PEN TRANSFORM!!! Turn me into a totally cool girl who doesn`t   
look a thing like me!"  
  
In a flash of light she was transformed into a teenage girl straight   
from the high-rating television shows targetted at the 16-25 years   
old viewer group with great clothes, fabulous hair and more sensual   
appeal than Marylin Monroe.  
  
"Bye, Luna, I`ll say hi to Minako for you!" said Usagi as she skipped   
out of her room.  
  
"Oh, that girl will kill me yet." said Luna in exasperation.  
  
* * *  
  
"I can`t wait to see his face." thought Usagi as she knocked on   
Minako`s door.  
  
Minako answered and was quite surprised to see Usagi was using the   
luna pen to come to her house against both cats`recommandation.  
  
"Usagi? Why did you come here... like this? Is there anything new   
about... well, you know?" she   
asked.  
  
"Not yet, Ami`s still working on it. Soooo... is James here? I`m   
curious to see if he`s as cute as Makoto told us!" she answered.  
  
"Since you`re here, I might as well let you in. Would you like a   
glass of soda?"  
  
"Do I ever say no to any kind of food or drink?"  
  
Usagi sat at the dining room table while Minako got the soda bottle  
and three glasses wich she lined up on the table and filled. She   
called someone in the living room:  
  
"James, I`d like you to meet my friend Usagi! Would you like   
something to drink while you`re coming here?"  
  
A voice answered from the living room, a voice familiar to Usagi.  
  
"Yes, please, that would be nice."  
  
Why was Usagi feeling chills in her spine?  
  
She was horrified to see Jedite walking in the dining room and kiss   
Minako who obviously enjoyed his presence. Usagi`s stomach twisted   
into a triple knot from the mind crushing fear she felt.  
  
"James, this is my good friend Usagi. She..." Minako hesitated.   
"...she`s been doing something different with her hair today,   
haven`t you, Usagi?"  
  
"Hello, Usagi. Say... haven`t we met before?" asked Jedite who   
vaguely remembered seeing the power of the luna pen in action.  
  
"NO! I mean, no, I`d remember you... hum, Minako, can we talk?   
Private? NOW?!?" uttered Usagi in a single breath.  
  
"Would you mind, honey?" asked Minako.  
  
"Sure, I`ll be in the living room." he said before leaving.  
  
Minako wondered wondered why Usagi was suddenly hyperventilating.  
  
"What`s on your mind?" she asked.  
  
"James... James... is that what he told you his name was?"  
  
Minako looked at Usagi as if her friend had just declared that   
spheres had sharp edges.  
  
"What`s that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Minako, this man has been lying to you... he`s EVIL! You have to   
get away from him, fast, before he hurts you!"  
  
Minako`s expression of confusion was quickly replaced by one of   
anger and burning rage. Her eyes shot lightning bolts at Usagi.  
  
"Minako, did you hear what I said?"  
  
Usagi got her answer when Minako`s glass, wich she was holding   
tighter and tighter in her hand, shattered to pieces. Several shards   
plunged in her tender skin, drawing blood in the process.  
  
"How DARE you, Usagi? How dare you go around showing off your   
perfect boyfriend while I suffer silently from loneliness and then,   
when I finally find a nice guy, say those HORRIBLE things about   
him?!?" yelled Minako.  
  
"Minako, your hand is bleeding..."  
  
"Get out of here, Usagi."  
  
"But your hand..."  
  
"GET OUT NOW!!" Minako screamed loud enough to wake up the dead,   
tears filling her eyes.  
  
Usagi had no choice but to leave. Jedite walked in afterwards,   
concerned about what he heard.  
  
"I heard you screaming, what happened?"  
  
She tried to answer but could only cry. Jedite noticed her wounded   
hand.  
  
"Your hand is cut; let me take care of it." he said.  
  
How could Usagi say such terrible things about James? Such a caring   
man could not possibly be evil, thought Minako. She was surely lying,   
Minako couldn`t believe this could be true...  
  
* * *  
  
On her way home, Usagi opened her communicator unsure wether or not   
she was dreaming this whole situation. She called Ami.  
  
"Usagi, you look pale, what`s going on?" asked Ami.  
  
"Ami, it`s about Minako... I`m afraid she`s in more trouble than we   
could have ever imagined!"  
  
* * *  
  
"This is a nice place you own, James."  
  
"Thank you, Minako, I decorated Club Crystal myself."  
  
Jedite turned on the lights of the dance floor; it seemed strange   
to see all those colored lights and lasers spinning around in total   
silence, the entire club still waiting for its nightly allowance of   
customers.  
  
"I`d like you to sit by my side when the party starts. It would be   
much more fun that way." he said.  
  
"Of course, I`ll be there." Minako answered, halfway lost in her   
thoughts. "James, if someone you knew did something to hurt you, do   
you think you could find it in yourself to forgive that person?"  
  
"It`s about that Usagi, isn`t it? "  
  
"She`s been my friend for a while and we helped each other through   
a lot, I don`t want to lose her!"  
  
"You should listen to your heart, it will tell you what to do. Trust   
me, I know what you`re going through right now. A woman once did the   
same to me, willfully destroyed everything I was, turned my whole   
life into a smoking rubble heap. This is why I came back to Tokyo,   
to reclaim what she`s taken from me."  
  
"Did you ever forgive her?"  
  
Jedite avoided the question altogether.  
  
"You should rest a little before I open up. You can rest in my   
office, back there."  
  
Minako agreed and went into the small office. She sat at the desk,   
rested her head on her arms, careful not to crush her bruised hand   
in doing so. She went to sleep almost immediately. Soon after Jedite   
went to tell her the action would begin shortly; she was sleeping so   
peacefully, however, that he couldn`t bring himself to wake her up.  
  
"Sleep well, Minako, you have many wounds to heal." he whispered as   
he quietly closed the office door.  
  
* * *  
  
With her blue high-tech glasses strapped on, Sailor Mercury followed   
the trail of Jedite by his specific energy signature. It had been   
especially difficult and it was only around midnight that the scouts   
where able to reach the dark kingdom warrior at a place called Club   
Crystal.  
  
"He`s here." said Sailor Mercury.  
  
"He wants us all dead, you know." said Sailor Moon.  
  
"It doesn`t matter to me." said Sailor Mars.  
  
"Minako needs us right now, that`s what counts." said Sailor   
Jupiter.  
  
"Then let`s go in, shall we?" concluded Sailor Moon.  
  
* * *  
  
Inside the club, Jedite stood in front of Minako who had slept   
through the entire evening despite the loud disco action that had   
ended only minutes before. Jedite felt a strong emotional connection   
to this girl, something special he had never felt in his life. He   
remembered Kunzite and Zoisite- was this what brought them together?   
Was this the true love he had heard so much about?  
  
No, it couldn`t be. A warrior such as himself couldn`t feel love.   
He had a long time ago turned his back to such foolish behavior.  
  
Minako talked earlier about forgiving to Usagi... it forced him to   
wonder if he should try to find it in himself to forgive Sailor Moon,   
to put his dark past behind him and start a new life in this city.   
Could he really do this? Swallow his hatred and let go of his thirst   
for vengence? So many questions that were left unanswered...  
  
An explosion ripped the club`s front door, loudly announcing the   
arrival of Sailor Moon and the sailor scouts. Disturbed in her   
slumber by this noise, Minako mumbled incoherently as she was slowly   
trying to wake up. Jedite kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"Sleep, my love, while I take care of my unfinished business. All I   
have to do now is claim what is due to me. I`ll be right back."  
  
Jedite left the office quietly, closing the door behind him.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Moon walked in the dark dance club first, followed by the   
three scouts; all were staying on guard for god knows what trap   
Jedite had set up for them.  
  
"JEDITE! Come out here! We know you are holding our friend and we   
want her back!" said Sailor Moon in a bold, commanding voice.  
  
His voice replied promptly, resounding out of everywhere and nowhere   
at once.  
  
"You must be either very courageous or extremely stupid to come here   
on my home turf, sailor scouts. I have been waiting a long time for   
such an occasion to put an end to your pathetic lives... and I see   
you even have a new recruit! I do not know who you are yet, but I   
will make you regret teaming up with the scouts!" he said.  
  
The disco lights turned themselves on and flashed wildly, adding   
stress to the already nervewracked scouts who still didn`t know what   
their old nemesis was up to. The lasers and colored lights were no   
longer joyous but gloomy; the strobes made it difficult to gauge   
their own movements and combat would certainly be difficult at best.  
  
The mirror ball began to glow dark red- as if the gravity had   
increased a hundredfold, all four scouts collapsed on the floor,   
incapable of any movement.  
  
Jedite appeared floating high above the dance floor, wearing his   
full uniform. Bathing in the dark sphere`s crimson light, the effect   
was quite dramatic.  
  
"Can`t move, can you?" he said in triumph.  
  
"You won`t get away with this!" said Mars.  
  
"I already have." he replied.  
  
"We won`t let you hurt Minako, you monster!" said Jupiter.  
  
"I`m not going to, she`s here of her own free will. Besides, you   
little brats are TRESPASSING, so in the name of the law, I`ll punish   
you! " said Jedite, mocking Sailor Moon`s usual heroic speech.  
  
A strong blast from the sphere crushed the scouts the scouts even   
further, making them wish this pain would stop soon, regardless that   
it would mean death. They couldn`t take it anymore.  
  
"You will all DIE here!" yelled Jedite.  
  
A red streak of blurry light shattered the sphere into smithereens;   
the projectile came to a halt on the floor next to Sailor Moon.  
  
It was a blooming red rose.  
  
Standing on the ledge of a high window, Tuxedo Kamen looked upon the   
battlefield.  
  
"Your evil must be stopped, Jedite. I thought you had been destroyed   
all those months ago, but this time one of us will not live to fight   
again." he said in his soft voice.  
  
"Well said, cape boy!" said Jedite as he sent an overwhelming blast   
of dark energy at Tuxedo Kamen.The caped hero could not tolerate   
such a great amount of raw power fueled by burning hatred and stolen   
lifeforce; he fell to the dance floor with a loud thump.  
  
"Tuxedo Kamen, predictable as ever. Welcome to your final   
destruction! Look here, Sailor Moon, your little boyfriend has   
arrived!" said Jedite who didn`t know he was right on target about   
Usagi`s love for Mamoru.  
  
The sailor scouts were beginning to recover their strenght; they   
stood up but could not fight just yet.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"To see you suffer as much as I have." he coldly answered.  
  
He blasted Tuxedo Kamen again, ripping a blood curdling scream of   
pain from the helpless hero.  
  
"Please stop this! It`s me you want to hurt, not him!" pleaded Sailor   
Moon.  
  
"That`s right, I want to make YOU suffer- wich is why you will   
witness the death of those you love!" said Jedite, an evil glint in   
his eyes.  
  
Sailor Moon could not let Jedite do this; summoning all of her   
remaining strenght, she pulled out her scepter and activated its   
power. She had to go on fighting.  
  
"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"  
  
The bright beam of purifying light was easily deflected by Jedite   
back unto Sailor Moon who fell down from the blow. Had her heart   
been tainted by evil, her entire body would have been consumed by   
the white burst of light.  
  
"This is so much fun!" laughed Jedite, jubilating from the thrill   
of seeing his enemies in pain.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako woke up during the fight and realized that the scouts were   
fighting someone- JEDITE! He must have followed her to the club   
somehow and now the scouts needed her!  
  
"VENUS POWER... MAKEUP! "  
  
In a few seconds, Minako left her place to the mighty warrior Sailor   
Venus. Jedite wanted to kill her friends? Over her dead body! She   
opened the office door and could barely see through the whirling   
lasers and pulsating strobes. She managed to see Tuxedo Kamen lying   
unconcious on the floor and the scouts preparing a massive counter  
attack on a floating man dressed in a dark kingdom uniform. Turning   
his back to her, he couldn`t see he had one more opponent to contend   
with behind him.  
  
Help was on the way.  
  
A string of small golden energy pulses shaped as hearts surrounded   
Sailor Venus; catching it by the tip of her finger, she redirected   
it at the warrior without noticing that she was using her wounded   
hand to do so. Her deep cuts resumed bleeding as the golden chain   
soared towards Jedite.  
  
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"  
  
The chain immediately trapped the surprised Jedite in a golden halo,   
leaving him defenseless from the incoming onslaught of special   
attacks.  
  
"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"  
  
"FIRE SOUL!"  
  
"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"  
  
"MERCURY BUBBLES BLAST!"  
  
In the few moments it took for the scouts` blasts to reach Jedite,   
Minako recognized the face of the warrior whom she had just rendered   
helpless: it was her boyfriend! She was in love with Jedite and   
didn`t know about it until now!  
  
"NOOOOOO!" she yelled in despair.  
  
Too late. Unble to raise his energy shield, Jedite was engulfed in   
white-golden flames that threw him to the ground, horribly burnt.   
The flames died down, leaving a crippled Jedite to die from his   
fatal wounds. Minako ran to him and took him in her arms.  
  
"No! Jedite, don`t die please! You can`t leave me alone!"  
  
She took his hand in hers and her bleeding palm soaked his glove in   
warm blood. He saw her wounded hand and recognized her despite her   
scout uniform.  
  
"I`m sorry, Minako, but I can`t hold on much longer. Your friend   
Usagi was right, you know, you would have been better to avoid me."  
  
But you could change, see the light! Nephryte did!" she said. tears   
rolling off her cheeks.  
  
"No, you`re wrong. You offered me a chance at redemption and I chose   
the path of darkness. I really AM evil." said Jedite who was getting   
weaker every second.  
  
"I love you, Jedite!"  
  
"I never knew love before I met you, Minako, but I do know I love   
you with all my heart."  
  
Minako kissed Jedite for what would be the last time. His body began   
to glow bright white; soon   
he would be gone.  
  
"Remember me always, as I will." said Jedite with a tender smile.  
  
His body slipped out of Minako`s arms, completely turned into a   
gleaming sphere of light. The sphere silently zoomed away into the   
night sky, leaving nothing behind. Minako cried uncontrollably,   
unable to do anything else. She cried for the rest of the night;   
there was little her friends could do to help her stop.  
  
In time, the pain she felt diminished but never really went away. It   
left a deep scar in her heart, one quite similar to the scar in her   
palm that reminded her each day of her tragic loss.  
  
* * *  
  
To this day, a portrait of Jedite that Minako painted herself hangs   
in her bedroom. It showed him in the way she remembered him, as the   
tender, caring man she one day fell in love with.  
  
  
The End.  
  



	3. Swimming in Dark Waters

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Yeah, I know, I know.  
  
Although this is the very first Sailor Moon fanfic I ever wrote,   
it`s nonetheless episode number three in this story line.  
  
The explanation is quite simple: when I started out writing these,   
I had no idea it would take a life of its own until my characters   
(those I invented, that is) wrote themselves in more and more of my   
fanfics up to a point when I could no longer ignore the continuity   
in their existence.  
  
Let's just say that things have a way of working themselves out.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 3  
  
SWIMMING IN DARK WATERS  
  
  
Everyone came to what was going to be Usagi`s happiest day in her   
life, wearing their most beautiful clothes. The church was packed to   
capacity, although only the bride`s family and closest friends had   
the privilege of sitting in the first rows. All waited in   
anticipation for the magic moment to arrive when Usagi would unite   
her life with Mamoru`s for ever. Dressed in a stunning white tuxedo,   
he waited at the altar with feverish expectation.  
  
Then Usagi appeared in her wedding gown, glowing in happiness. Never   
before had she looked more like a princess than today, not even when   
she reclaimed the silver crystal or defeated the evil Queen Beryl.   
The entire audience held its breath as she gracefully walked down to   
the altar, but she paid attention to no one but her husband to be;   
her gaze was locked in Mamoru`s who found himself entranced by her   
divine beauty. Throughout the entire church, not a word was   
whispered- only Minako`s tears of joy could be heard. Weddings   
always had that effect on her.  
  
"Usagi dearest, I have waited a millenium for this day."  
  
"So have I, my love."  
  
Unable to wait any longer, she moved forward and gave a long,   
passionate kiss to the man she loved so much. Suddenly, he began   
resisting and squeeled in a high-pitch voice:  
  
"Leave me alone, meatball head!"  
  
"Huh...?"  
  
Usagi slowly arose out of her comatose sleep only to discover she   
was smothering and covering with kisses the now VERY uncomfortable   
Chibi-Usa.  
  
"YOU! What are you doing in MY bed, you little SPORE?!?"  
  
Usagi`s frantic screaming instantly sent the sleeping Luna in shock   
as if she`d used an hydrogen bomb for an alarm clock.  
  
"I was sleeping until you started giving me a french kiss, that`s   
what!" answered the pink-haired girl. "If I had known, I wouldn`t   
have come in your room to begin with!"  
  
That makes two of us, Luna thought to herself.  
  
"You don`t care for me, you never have, meatball head! I`m going   
to my room, now." said Chibi-Usa who hopped out of bed and ran out   
of the room with her Luna ball hovering behind.  
  
"You do just that!" Usagi yelled in response. "Why me, Luna? I`m   
a princess, aren`t I? I shouldn`t have to deal with that little   
fungus!"  
  
"You`re forgetting again, Usagi- she`s not just some kid you`re   
babysitting, she`s a refugee from the future seeking protection from   
dark moon thugs! Her mom and dad are in grave danger and she came   
here far from home to save them. Remember your promise to Sailor   
Pluto and promise ME you`ll be nicer to Chibi-Usa tomorrow morning."  
  
"Okay, Luna, I promise... but she better not mess up my hair like   
she did yesterday!"   
  
With that final comment, Usagi went back to sleep in a flash. Luna   
looked at the alarm clock; it was still two hours away from ringing   
seven o`clock to wake up Usagi who probably wouldn`t do so until   
way past eight.  
  
"I bet stuff like this doesn`t happen to Artemis." commented a   
rather discouraged black cat.  
  
* * *  
  
At the same moment, Artemis was vainly trying to escape from the   
inextricable choke hold of the sleeping Minako`s heavy arm.   
  
"Humpfff... could you move... your arm please?... I`m choking   
here..." pleaded the white cat, crushed mercilessly by the blonde   
girl`s right arm.  
  
"Mmmmm... yes, I`m single... I`d love to go on a date..." mumbled   
Minako through her dreaming haze, deaf to the cat`s desperate cries   
for help.  
  
"I bet stuff like that never happens to Luna." he thought.  
  
Artemis finally managed to fall asleep at that point and it was very   
unfortunate because it prevented him from witnessing the blinding   
flash of pink light that announced the spontaneous formation of a   
time portal near Minako`s home. From the swirling mass of light and   
energy emerged a lone warrior.  
  
Dressed in black leather, his brow was covered by a headband reading   
"Ryusenshi". On his belt hung a strange whip made entirely out of an   
unknown metallic alloy chain; one skillful swing of this weapon could   
surely kill a man instantly.   
  
The time passage closed behind him, abandonning the warrior to the   
ancient city he learned about in old history books, twentyeth   
century Tokyo. He was indeed a stranger in a strange land. He looked   
at his necklace, a small golden key identical to the one Chibi-Usa   
wore herself. This trinket had the potential of making and destroying   
worlds, he thought, and he`d need that kind of power if his mission   
was to succeed. Right now, however, he had to get moving; his   
huntress was surely tracking him down like a blood hound searching   
for game. He had to reach the sailor scouts BEFORE she did,   
otherwise his whole mission would fail.  
  
He had to act fast, as always. His informations were not as complete   
as he`d hoped, but the circumstances of his departure were less   
than favorable for the kind of preparation he would have needed.   
He walked away from Minako`s house never knowing he was so close   
to one the sailor scouts.  
  
* * *  
  
The following morning was just like any other- that is, Usagi woke   
up late for school yet again.  
  
"EIGHT FIFTEEN? I`M SOOOOO LATE!!!"  
  
She then proceeded to breeze inside her school uniform, wolf down   
breakfast and pick up her lunch in five minutes flat, a personal   
record. Afterwards, she started her daily dash towards school,   
ignoring a snyde remark of Luna as she left home. Usagi was so   
absorbed by her race against the clock that she barely noticed the   
strange leather wearing man she almost charged head-on. She avoided   
him by mere inches and went on her way, nearly breaking both her   
neck and the sound barrier.   
  
The time traveler continued his search for the sailor scouts,   
trying to find a place where he could meet them. It then occured   
to him that the Shinto temple on Cherry Hill was their usual   
meeting place; this meant, however, that he`d lose even more time   
waiting until they came back from school. With every hour, she was   
this much closer to finding him. The minute she knew where he was,   
she`d materialize in Tokyo and put a stop to his mission. He   
couldn`t let that happen, no matter the cost.  
  
* * *  
  
The rest of the day proved uneventfull. The girls went to their   
classes as usual; Ami aced her calculus exam while Usagi flunked   
geography. The scouts then went to their meeting at the temple,   
except for Ami who had her extra classes and Usagi who was held in   
detention.  
  
Rei swept the temple`s porch, waiting for the others to arrive. She   
understood that Ami couldn`t get there right away, but Usagi? That   
girl had no excuse. Why was SHE the moon princess? Sure, she did   
good against Beryl, Metallia and the doomtree, but she was so   
irresponsable! The only way she this could make sense was if the   
earth had been the butt of a cosmic joke.  
  
She saw the strange man enter the temple grounds and wondered wether   
to welcome him, send him away or cower in fear. She got weird vibes   
from him that she couldn`t make sense of at all.  
  
"Excuse me, sir, but the temple is closed until tomorrow."  
  
"Are you Hino Rei?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"  
  
"I must discuss with you and your friends about a matter of grave   
importance."  
  
"Hum, I`m afraid I can`t help you right now. If you come back   
tomorrow, I`m sure my grandfather could..."  
  
"NO!" the traveler cut Rei roughly. "I must speak with you, Sailor   
Mars. And your friends, too."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"You heard me. I know about you and the sailor scouts. That is   
why I came here."  
  
Makoto and Minako walked in, much to Rei`s relief. If a madman was   
going to get violent or something, she could sure use some   
reinforcements.  
  
"Ah, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. I`m glad you are here. Am I   
right to assume Sailor Moon and Mercury will be delayed to your   
meeting?"  
  
The girls nodded, amazed he knew so much about them. Who was he   
anyway?  
  
"I don`t have much time so I`ll get right to the point. My name is   
Ryusenshi and I come from your future, a very bleak one. Tokyo has   
been replaced by a city called Crystal Tokyo; it`s not the utopia   
you`ve been told about by Sailor Pluto, however. Most of the sailor   
scouts are dead or would be better off if they were. The only chance   
Crystal Tokyo has at a good future is the good and fair Queen   
NeoSerenity whose very life is in danger. I happen to know that I   
have to protect Sailor Mercury`s life in the past to save my queen   
in the future. Being the queen`s personal bodyguard, I had no choice   
but to come here. Nothing else matters to me." he explained.  
  
"Why should we believe any of this?" Makoto asked with scepticism.  
  
"Yeah, what proof do we have that you do come from the future?"   
added Rei.  
  
He looked at his watch.  
  
"In exactly four minutes, a medium-sized earthquake will strike   
Tokyo. I think it has something to do with excessive temporal   
stress being released. I didn't really pay attention to Sailor   
Pluto's explanation, to be honest." answered Ryusenshi. "If you`ll   
excuse me, now, I must leave. It`s dangerous for me to remain in   
any place for too long."  
  
(author`s note: In japanese, Ryusenshi means "dragon soldier")  
  
* * *  
  
Her class over, Ami met with Usagi who was waiting for her.  
  
"Detention again, Usagi?"  
  
"Yeah... who knew mimicking miss Haruna in class could get me in   
trouble?"  
  
Before Ami could tell Usagi how much school is important for her   
future, the ground shook violently for a few brief instants wich   
seemed to last forever to Usagi.  
  
"WHAAAA! Earthquake!!!"  
  
"You can stop crying now, it`s over. I believe this one was a five   
on the Richter scale. Not enough to cause real damage, just enough   
to get our attention." Ami noted.  
  
"Rei`s gonna be a full ten on that scale if we take more time to   
reach the temple, let`s go!" said Usagi.  
  
She started running but came to a grinding halt only a few steps   
further after she collided with someone on her way.  
  
"Hey, watch where you`re going!" she snapped after she painfully   
landed on her behind.  
  
She stared up and noticed it was Mamoru who was standing there.  
  
"Oh, it`s you, muffin..."  
  
"Don`t call me that, you know we`re through, Usagi."  
  
Ami watched silently, uneasy about this situation.  
  
"But I still love you, you can`t just ignore me and what we had!"  
  
"Leave me alone. We`re finished and that`s the end of it."  
  
Mamoru turned his back to the crying Usagi, clenching his fists as   
every one of her tears tore him apart a little more. He would like   
so much to tell her his true feelings, to hold her in his arms again   
but he couldn`t take that chance. Not with those visions of her   
death haunting him every night.  
  
"I`m so sorry, Usagi..." he mumbled to himself.  
  
* * *  
  
The two girls eventually made it to the temple and learned about the   
mysterious visitor and his apocalyptic predictions. Ami was   
especially troubled since she seemed to be so critical in the chain   
of events that would lead to a catastrophic future. In so much doubt,   
Rei decided to make a fire reading about him.  
  
Kneeling in front of the fire, Rei concentrated intensely on the   
red-golden flames wich looked like they responded to the Shinto   
disciple`s prayers. The other girls knelt some distance behind her,   
watching silently in the deepest respect.  
  
"Oh great fire, bring us your knowledge and wisdom, enlighten us   
about the one who calls himself RYUSENSHI!"  
  
The flames danced around in front of Rei, bringing visions to the   
young apprentice and leaving her friends to wonder what she might be   
seeing. After a while, Rei opened her eyes.  
  
"This is weird. Ryusenshi is a mass of contradictions in every aspect   
imaginable. What he told us was true, yet for every piece of   
information he offered us he held one more back. He could be trying   
to deceive us. His heart seems to be good, though there is something   
thoroughly evil in his being! Furthermore, I keep seeing Usagi and   
Ami in the fire. They are both linked to him in an odd mix of   
respect, fear, love and hatred. I can`t make heads or tails about   
it."  
  
"Let`s be careful, then." said Ami.  
  
"I`d hate to have him as our enemy, he`s cute." commented Minako.  
  
"Yeah, he reminds me of my ex-boyfriend!" added Makoto to no one`s   
surprise.  
  
* * *  
  
Somewhere downtown, Ryusenshi walked around in the crowd, occasionaly   
attracting a few surprised looks. The sun had set long ago, leaving   
the gentle moonlight glow mixed with harsh streetlight to brighten   
the evening. He was walking slowly, believing that he probably had   
at least a few hours before his huntress would show off, time enough   
to catch a glimpse of the town that would one day be replaced by a   
wondrous city of crystal.  
  
Wrong.  
  
A huge bolt of pink light streaked across the sky- she was here.  
  
Cursing his own carelessness, he ran as fast as his legs would allow   
to Ami`s house where he thought she would try to find her. He felt   
lucky he knew Ami`s home address, as he desperately needed to beat   
his huntress to the punch.  
  
Wrong again.  
  
* * *  
  
"Endymion, help me!!!" shrieked Usagi.  
  
Her piercing voice froze Mamoru`s heart in horror as he could do   
nothing but watch his precious princess get torn apart and   
incinerated by the powerful blast that took out Crystal Tokyo`s   
heart.  
  
"USAGIIIIII!!!" he screamed in pain.  
  
No, she couldn`t be dead! How could he live without her???  
  
"NOOOO!!!" he screamed as he woke up covered in sweat.  
  
The same dream yet again. Always the same, with a warning: "If   
you do not stay away from princess Usagi, she will DIE because   
of you."  
  
Why was he having those dreams? He couldn`t believe he was going   
to be the cause of Usagi`s death. He loved her so much, it made   
no sense that he could hurt her.  
  
He needed some air to change his thoughts, so he picked up a rose   
from a vase on his table and in a flash of light changed into   
Tuxedo Kamen. A second later he was gone, leaping swiftly into   
the night.  
  
* * *  
  
The streak of pink light stabilized in a dark alley, forming another   
time portal. Upon opening, a woman stepped out, dressed in a low-cut   
strapless black leather dress with matching jacket and spiked-heel   
boots. Just like the other traveler, a heavy chain whip hung from   
her waist. Looking as nasty as she was beautiful, she was both angel   
and demon, a futuristic vision of heaven untouched by the ravages of   
time. It was Ami, as she would be in a thousand years.  
  
She looked back into the swirling portal; on the other side stood the   
ageless Sailor Pluto.  
  
"Do not worry about Ryusenshi having tricked you, Setsuna my old   
friend. You came forward to me admiting your mistake and that`s what   
counts. I will capture him and have him pay dearly for his horrible   
crimes, you have my word on it." she said, her face stiffened in   
rage. "He shall pay in BLOOD!" she added with resolve.  
  
The portal closed and the future Ami left in the ancient city where   
she would find her prey.  
  
* * *  
  
Chibi-Usa felt really bad about fighting with Usagi in the morning,   
so she wanted to appologize for coming in her bed without permission.   
She knew Usagi was probably with her friends at the temple, so she   
was on her way over there right now. She sure spent a lot of time   
over there with Rei and the other girls doing who knows what;   
Chibi-Usa simply had to find out what the girls were hiding from   
her, but that was a matter for another day.  
  
The little girl was really surprised to meet Ami on her way there,   
as she was dressed completely unlike her usual sober clothes. Since   
Ami seemed to be heading to the temple as well, she followed from   
a distance. Chibi-Usa was very curious about Ami`s obvious contempt   
for teenage fashion; she also remembered that curiosity killed the   
cat, but decided she wasn`t a cat and followed anyway, very   
discreetly. The more she followed, however, the least she was   
convinced that this was the REAL Ami.  
  
Ami did go to the temple and entered the front gate just as the   
five girls were about to leave and go home.  
  
"It appears I got here just in the nick of time!" she said to the   
bewildered scouts.  
  
"A second Ami? Now THERE`s something you don`t see every day!" said   
Usagi.  
  
"Ami," said the time traveler to her younger self, "today is the day   
you will die if you return home- Kuromizuno Ryusenshi lied to you   
all, he did not leave his post as the royal bodyguard to protect   
you, but to destroy me by killing you!"  
  
"This is starting to confuse me..." said Makoto.  
  
"He betrayed the entire city; he already murdered the king by   
bombing his shuttle and now he`s waiting for you to return home   
and kill you there. If you die, you will not be there to prevent   
him from killing the queen as well! If the queen should die, the   
dark moon will take over Crystal Tokyo. Ryusenshi is their slave,   
if you look under his headband, you`ll see a dark moon symbol on   
his forehead."  
  
"He must be stopped! " said Minako.  
  
"Yeah! " said the scouts all at once.  
  
"MOON CRYSTAL POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
"MERCURY POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
"JUPITER POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
"VENUS POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
"MARS POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
"SCOUT POWER!!!" screamed all five girls.  
  
In a rainbow of celestial colors, they all transformed into the   
mighty sailor scouts, champions of love and justice.  
  
"Before you go," said the future Ami, there is something critical to   
my own future I have to tell Sailor Mercury. She must stay behind   
with me, for no other than her may hear what I have to say."  
  
"I`ll catch up with you later, go now, sailor scouts!" concluded   
Mercury.  
  
As the scouts left the temple, Chibi-Usa finally made it and had   
the biggest surprise she could possibly have: Sailor Mercury was   
standing next to someone who looked exactly like her! She couldn`t   
hear what they were saying so she moved in closer.  
  
(author`s note: Kuromizuno means "of dark waters")  
  
* * *  
  
The sailor scouts reached Ami`s house quickly and found Ryusenshi   
waiting for Ami to arrive. Sailor Moon went forth with her usual   
speech:  
  
"Kuromizuno Ryusenshi! We know of your evil intentions and will not   
tolerate dark moon scum in our city. I am Sailor Moon, I fight for   
love and justice and in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"  
  
"I am Sailor Mars, I will see you burning in the raging inferno of   
truth!"  
  
"I am Sailor Jupiter, I am here to shock your system in the name   
of justice!"  
  
"I am Sailor Venus, I fight for love everywhere!"  
  
Ryusenshi began to panic. "How do you knnow my full name?" he   
asked.  
  
"The Ami you`re trying to destroy told us everything! We refuse   
to see you change the future like you plan... VENUS CRESCENT   
BEAM SMASH!"  
  
A thin beam of golden light soared from Sailor Venus`s extended   
finger and knocked the warrior down, but not out. Seeing the other   
scouts starting their attack moves, he drew his whip, ready for   
action.  
  
"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"  
  
"FIRE SOUL!"  
  
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"  
  
The trio of magical blasts surged towards Ryusenshi with lethal   
precision. In a single swing, he repelled all three attacks back   
unto the scouts who were knocked down by the sheer force of the   
explosive burst. The shock also ripped off Ryusenshi`s headband,   
revealing a black upside-down crescent moon on his forehead. His   
secret out in the open, his last hope of success vanished.  
  
"DAMN! How can I convince them I`m on their side now?" he thought.  
  
* * *  
  
"Sooo..." said Ami, trying to break the ice with her future self,   
"I see we dress pretty wildly a millenium from now."  
  
"Actually, this is considered very conservative. Besides, I thinks   
it makes me look good."  
  
"It really does! I can`t wait to look as good as you."  
  
"Funny you should say that, I have something that will help you   
be just like me!" said the time traveler as she took a small jewel   
from her pocket and presented it to the younger Ami. "All you need   
to do is place it on your forehead, you will see the difference   
right away."  
  
Ami looked at the small ruby and took it reluctantly.  
  
"Go ahead! Put it on your forehead!" said the older Ami.  
  
Ami slowly removed her sailor tiara and and hesitated to place   
the jewel.  
  
"What are you waiting for, darling? This is just what you always   
wanted; I should know, I`m you! It can give you everything."  
  
Still, Ami hesitated, so her older self grabbed her hand and   
forced the jewel on her forehead where it stuck- a huge amount   
of dark energy began swirling around Ami and entering her body   
through the glowing ruby. Unable to withstand such a mad rush of   
power, she fell down.  
  
"What... is... happening ... to me?" she uttered.  
  
"You`re becoming my own glorious self, honey." answered the older   
Ami.  
  
Chibi-Usa, who had found a good hiding place in the nearby bushes,   
was paralyzed by fear; was this strange woman one of those sent by   
the dark moon to capture her or some other freak job getting ready   
to trash Tokyo? She couldn`t say for sure- she couldn`t move either,   
for that matter. The little girl could only listen to the terrible   
secrets revealed by this insane woman.  
  
"You see, after today your personality will change radically, though   
you`ll keep it secret for a while. You`ll also change your name to   
Kuromizuno, it`ll fit you better. Yes, that DOES mean that Ryusenshi   
is my son. When he was sixteen, I had his father killed. The king   
wanted to find a way to comfort him, so he immediately accepted my   
suggestion to have him trained as the royalbodyguard in order to give   
him a focus, a goal. After a few years, I killed the king as well   
and my son became the queen`s shoulder to cry on. As she fell in   
love with my son, I could easily control the queen through him."   
she explained, carefully setting up herself to become the evil   
woman she had turned out to be.  
  
"So... why... come... here?" Ami said with great difficulty as   
the dark energy broke her mental barriers one by one.  
  
"Intelligence is genetic as we both know and my son is no fool.   
He quickly understood my little game and warned the queen about   
my intentions, but I managed to destroy his credibility. He came   
here to stop me in the past, but I`ll kill him and be done with   
him. You probably wonder how I`ll control the queen now, don`t   
you? Simple: I killed her too, so now I can take her place after   
I blame Ryusenshi! It was surprisingly easy to do, I just had to   
reveal the dark moon symbol on his face I had kept hidden since   
his birth, much like I can hide mine."  
  
She gently patted the head of Sailor Mercury as wave after wave   
of dark energy infused in her body.  
  
"Plus I had to be here to make sure you followed my plan, didn`t   
I? Don`t worry, the pain will subside as soon as the metamorphosis   
is complete."  
  
Chibi-Usa heard every word. Her parents were dead? How could she   
return home now that she had no mom and dad waiting there? She   
started to cry uncontrollably and suddenly her moon beam shot right   
into the sky, alerting the scouts, Ryusenshi and the evil Ami of her   
presence.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Moon suddenly stopped fighting Ryusenshi and looked up in   
the sky; shecould hardly miss the golden beam of light Chibi-Usa was   
sending in her moment of distress.  
  
"Chibi-Usa is in danger!!!" she said.  
  
"How's that possible? Our enemy is right here!" said Venus.  
  
"That`s what I`ve been trying to tell you girls but you wouldn`t   
listen! I`m not the menace here, my mother is!" he said in   
exasperation; fighting against the greatest living legends earth   
had ever known was not his idea of a good time.  
  
"YOU are her son? Why would she be chasing you?" asked Sailor   
Moon.  
  
"Because I wouldn`t collaborate on her plan to manipulate the queen.   
Now she`s probably corrupting her own past self with dark energy,   
she`ll become part of the dark moon- that`s why I have this symbol   
on my face, it`s my own twisted birthright!" he said in a single   
breath. "She sent you after me so you wouldn`t stop her!!!" he added   
in flaring anger, showing the temper he inherited from his mother.  
  
"We must help Ami, now!" said Sailor Jupiter.  
  
* * *  
  
Dark Ami pulled her heavy whip and went towards the bushes, dragging   
the chain along the ground; like a hornet cobra, she was ready to   
strike.  
  
"So a little rat is spying on me, is she?"  
  
Chibi-Usa was terrified; no way this was Ami! the Ami she knew was   
sweet, gentle and caring. The woman coming her way was a homicidal   
maniac who murdered her parents!  
  
"Time to say goodbye, now." said the evil woman.  
  
She swiftly extended the whip in the air, forming a lethal arc that   
was aimed at the young girl`s head. Ami had killed many times over   
in her thousand years of life and many strong men had perished   
under her fierce assaults; Chibi-Usa could not possibly survive   
such terrible damage. A fraction of a second before she brought   
the whip down, a red blur slashed her hand, forcing her to drop   
the weapon.  
  
A beautiful rose had done this.  
  
Tuxedo Kamen was standing on the roof of the temple, watching   
over Ami who was holding her wounded hand. A couple of tears were   
going down her cheeks, messing up her mascara. She did not look   
pleased.  
  
"Attacking my friends, are you? You should know better than to sow   
the wind unless you`re ready to reap the whirlwind." said the masked   
man.  
  
"That`s big talk from a man who still dresses like the charleston   
was the latest dance craze; let`s rumble, cape boy!" she replied.  
  
Ignoring the pain in her hand, she picked up the whip and began   
spinning like an olympic gymnast in the ribbon competition.  
  
"DARK RAIN SLASHER!" she screamed. Energy flared along the chain   
and formed a cluster of black lightning bolts that flew straight   
towards Tuxedo Kamen who barely leapt out of the way.  
  
As he flew down to the ground, Tuxedo Kamen pulled out his cane   
which he extended into a swordlike weapon. The fight truly started   
as the two weapons clashed over and over; Tuxedo Kamen was not doing   
good, though, as his opponent had centuries to hone her combat   
skills. After several narrow misses, he could not avoid the heavy   
chain that sent him reeling all the way across the temple grounds.  
  
"Is that all this puny era has to offer? I was hoping to break a   
sweat." said the evil Ami as she turned her attention back to   
Chibi-Usa. "I`ll just have to break your neck, instead."  
  
Ryusenshi arrived with the scouts before the evil Ami could murder   
this girl who knew of her plans. Ryusenshi instructed the scouts to   
help Sailor Mercury fast. He would take on his mother all by   
himself.  
  
"About time you got here, you ungrateful turncoat!" she barked at   
her son. "I could have given you everything, Ryusenshi, but you   
turned me away!"  
  
"I love the queen and she loves me; there is no room for your evil   
schemes in Crystal Tokyo." he answered.  
  
"You`re too late, I`m afraid. Before I left, I took care of her.   
You know what? When my whip crushed her throat, I read YOUR name   
on her trembling lips- she was calling for you, but I made sure   
no one could hear! The best part is, by revealing your dark moon   
symbol, I blamed her death on you! "  
  
"You killed her?! You`ll pay, you vile monster!" yelled the   
warrior in heartbreaking pain.  
  
Their whips struck each other as they fought bitterly over the   
death of so many people, shaking the ground with each hit. Over   
the next few weeks, scientists would try to locate they point of   
origin of these "earthquake aftershocks" and be at a loss over   
their meaningless findings.  
  
Away from this fight, the scouts were trying very hard to remove   
the ruby from Mercury`s head.  
  
"Sailor Moon, use your scepter!" said Rei.  
  
"Right! MOON SCEPTER HALATION!"  
  
Under the scepter`s force, the ruby shattered into small specks of   
dust and the evil energy got cleansed out of Ami`s body. Although   
she was very weak, she was all right.  
  
"Thank you, Sailor Moon." she whispered.  
  
A horrible shriek of pain came from Kuromizuno Ami as she faded   
into nothingness like an echo with no point of origin. Her dark   
birth had been averted, her entire existence erased. Being born   
at a much later time, Ryusenshi faded much slowly. He had time to   
give a final message to Chibi-Usa.  
  
"Soon I will disappear like mother did. The future will fix itself   
and the royal family will live again. Do not despair, little rabbit,   
you can still save your mom and dad. Goodbye, sailor scouts, and   
good luck."  
  
And so he was gone.  
  
Everyone prefered to return home without comments, taking time to   
reflect on the consequences of letting the lust of power take over.   
Tuxedo Kamen left without even seeing Usagi, knowing his presence   
would only stir her emotions back to the surface. He did not want   
to do this until he could avert her tragic fate for sure.  
  
* * *  
  
That night, Chibi-Usa crawled into Usagi`s bed again. She cuddled   
to Usagi and mumbled during her sleep.  
  
"Oh mommy... I love you so much... I`ll help you... I promise."  
  
Instead of getting furious as she always did, she instead kissed   
the sweet little girl and fell asleep. She didn`t know why, but she   
really felt close to Chibi-Usa, like she`d known her for years or   
something. Luna was so touched by the scene that she cuddled to   
Usagi as well for what would be a very peaceful night of healing   
slumber.  
  
Maybe things would work out for the moon princess after all.  
  
  
The End.  



	4. Past Imperfect

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
The multiverse is a truly complicated place, filled with a hundred   
million realities wich may differ in any number of ways such as   
humans evolving out of ants or something insignificant such as the   
guy next door eating his corn flakes without sugar this morning.  
  
This is the continuing story of one such place where history does   
not follow the course set in the television serie. Episode four of   
this story takes place after Sailor Moon R before professor Tomoe   
begins his attempts to gather heart crystals. Since the multiverse   
is such a terribly twisted and mixed up place, however, this may or   
may not happen in your part of the spacetime continuum.   
  
Reality is a really hard thing to understand; as soon as you corner   
it, it bounces back in unpredictable manners...  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE FOUR  
  
PAST IMPERFECT  
  
  
Thump thump.  
  
Unsure of herself, unable to form coherent thoughts, Rei floated in   
the warm, thick liquid that sustained her precarious life.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
Through the comforting aquatic silence, the regular sound of her own   
heartbeat interrupted the faint humming of the sophisticated medical   
equipment on the other side of her glass capsule.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
The greenish substance filled her lungs without choking, providing   
Sailor Mars`s body with oxygen and fighting off infection on her   
severely burnt skin. Several tubes reached into her arteries to   
ensure water and nutrients supply.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
Resting naked in this secure pod with her eyes closed was the   
closest thing to her mother`s womb that she had ever experienced,   
though she had little awareness of her surroundings.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
She couldn`t say how long she had been in this regeneration capsule,   
nor what had gotten her in there to begin with.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
Rei slightly opened her tired eyes and saw a tall figure standing   
on the other side of the glass. She couldn`t remember who that was,   
let alone think.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
She closed her eyes again and let the comforting sound of her   
heartbeat lull her to a dreamless sleep. The wounded sailor had   
already forgotten about that man outside the capsule.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
"Heartbeat stabilized at last, breathing steady, that`s good." said   
the man.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
"Blood pressure a bit off mark, electrolyte levels imbalanced. Still   
touch and go, I see."  
  
Thump thump.  
  
For a long time he had feared this might happen, and it did.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
"Hold on, Mars. You`ll be fine, I`ll make this right like I   
promised."  
  
Thump thump.  
  
The deep voice had a familiar sound to Rei`s ears, like a long   
forgotten dream, and made her feel better. In a corner of her   
clouded mind, lyrics to an old song came to her.  
  
Deaf to faith and  
blind to love,  
you came today-  
  
Filled with anger,  
mad with rage,  
you came my way-  
  
Burned by your fire,  
scorched by your flame,  
I die away.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
* * *  
  
Everyone held their breath as the ruthless confrontation between the   
two mighty opponents drew to its deadly end; both sides had suffered   
heavy casualties and neither could withstand much more.  
  
"Your move." whispered Birdie, a confident glint in her eye.  
  
"This doesn`t look good." thought Ami.  
  
"Finally, my time of revenge is NOW!" thought Birdie.  
  
"It`s over for me, it seems." said Ami as she moved her last knight   
across the board; Birdie quickly snatched it with her bishop.  
  
"CHECKMATE!!!" screamed Birdie as she smashed her fist on the table   
in unbridled joy.  
  
"Well played, Birdie." congratulated Ami.  
  
"Thanks, Ami. You`re so good at this game, I wanted to defeat you   
ever since that chess tournament I crashed last year."  
  
Usagi`s laughter burst out of the other room; Rei`s comic books   
were, as usual, making her laugh out of control.  
  
"It`s a miracle either of you could concentrate with Usagi the hyena   
back there." commented Minako.  
  
"Yeah, I could hardly hear myself think at all, you girls are   
incredible!" added Makoto.  
  
Rei walked in at that moment; she couldn`t stand Yuuichiro`s singing   
anymore and even Usagi`s laughter sounded better than his latest   
composition.  
  
"You know, she looks a lot happier now that Mamoru stopped having   
those horrible visions of her death. I`m glad it turned out okay for   
them, they make a cute couple." she said.  
  
"I agree." said Birdie. "They look so much in love; I can`t wait   
until I feel this way too... Catsy and Prisma already found someone   
special."  
  
"I`m sure that won`t take very long; you`re a smart, beautiful   
woman! Men will walk on their hands to be close to you." said Rei.  
  
"Thanks." Birdie said, blushing.  
  
* * *  
  
A very, very long distance away from the little blue planet called   
earth a lonely starship circled a stable orbit around the sun. A   
starship, by definition, allowed people to travel through the void   
of space without being turned inside out by the near-zero air   
pressure or frozen to absolute zero temperature. The starship   
Pegasus did just that but not much more; devoid of thrusters, it   
could never change course or leave orbit of its own. It rotated on   
itself to simulate artificial gravity and a 22 hour day/night   
period through its clear metal-glass dome and was filled with plants   
to provide air and food to the crew.  
  
As it stood, the crew was composed of only one.  
  
For over a thousand years now, a young looking red haired girl had   
lived all alone within the confines of the Pegasus`s hull, taking   
care of the shipwide garden of eden. Over time, she had learned to   
accept her fate and was quite content with her day to day life. Last   
month, however, a stray meteor collided with the Pegasus knocking it   
free out of its orbit; without any kind of thrusters to make course   
corrections, it fell right into the sun. Gradually accelerating to   
its inescapable destruction. Celeste looked at the constantly   
enlarging image of the sun on the ship`s viewer every day; after a   
thousand years of captivity, death would be most welcome to her.  
  
A week after the ship left orbit, the total lack of gravity and   
reduced sunlight began killing the plants one by one. Just two days   
ago, there were no fruit producing plants left and food ran out   
completely. This mattered little considering that oxygen would run   
out in a matter of hours as there were not enough plants left to   
filter the air. The prisonner of the Pegasus decided at that moment   
to give up her fight for survival and wait to die.   
  
What she did not realize right away is that her speeding ship got   
caught in earth`s gravity pull and was now heading to that planet.   
As the hull of the ship started turning white hot from the air   
friction, she understood that she might have a chance to make it   
out alive and reclaim what she`d lost all those centuries ago.  
  
The screeching fireball once known as the Pegasus was coming down   
to crashland in Tokyo Bay.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi slept peacefully with Luna by her side, dreaming of her   
wonderful Mamoru who had come back to her at last.  
  
"Oh... Mamoru... I love you so much..." she mumbled.  
  
The huge explosion of a white hot metal surface hitting the cool   
waters of the bay woke up everyone in Tokyo who was sleeping at the   
time, including Usagi and her cat guardian.  
  
"WHOAAA! Luna, what was that?"  
  
"I don`t know, it sounded like a bomb!"  
  
"Well, whatever it was, I`m sure we can find out tomorrow; let`s   
go back to sleep and find out what we can in the morning." suggested   
Usagi.  
  
"For once I agree with you... Usagi?"  
  
The black cat found herself talking to no one as Usagi was snoring   
already. Tired from the previous day, Luna just accepted this and   
followed her example.  
  
* * *  
  
The marine guard went to investigate what it believed to be a   
meteorite crash but found nothing floating on the surface; they   
figured the rock must have had a high metallic content, judging   
from their sonar scans, and decided to return in the morning with   
better equipment. They were not equiped to search for a sunken   
meteorite, especially not in the middle of the night.  
  
They didn`t notice that Celeste was swiftly swimming to the nearest   
city, Tokyo. She was especially talented in water sports and a few   
miles distance did not scare her, even if she was a millenium out   
of practice. There was someone whose presence she felt, someone who   
possessed what she wanted.  
  
* * *  
  
When the sun rose over Tokyo that day, it was business as usual for   
the local population. A most unusual visitor was coming to town,   
however. A cloaked starship entered the atmosphere following the   
trace metals path left by the Pegasus.  
  
The starship Avatar flew over the bay, hideously undected by the   
multimillion dollar radar systems, wich was a shame because they   
had been built to detect just that kind of thing. The ship`s lone   
pilot was searching for the missing prison ship.  
  
IMPACT POINT FOUND  
LOCATION TOKYO BAY  
METAL COMPOSITION ANALYSIS POSITIVE  
TARGET IDENTIFIED AS STARSHIP PEGASUS MARK ONE  
  
"Damn! She`s not dead, I can feel it!" said the pilot.  
  
Dressed in a blue uniform not seen on this planet for over a thousand   
years, he bore the alchemical symbol of saturn on his chest. His   
short brown hair and chiseled face made him look nothing like his   
true age wich was betrayed only by a stray silver streak.  
  
"I have to find her before she can locate the scouts."  
  
He had known the sailor scouts a millenium ago and knew well they   
had reincarnated after their deaths at Beryl`s hands. Could he   
recognize them now? He had to try because he couldn`t let Celeste   
find them first.  
  
* * *  
  
The girls ended their study session with a discussion about the   
meteorite that crashed in the bay the night before; they had all   
heard it as it woke up the whole city.  
  
"It`s lucky for everyone it landed so far from the city otherwise   
it could have done a lot of damage." said Rei.  
  
"Yes, veering a tenth of a degree off course would have made all   
the difference between the bay and metropolitan Tokyo as a landing   
site." explained Ami.  
  
Usagi utterly failed to hear any of this, her focus firmly locked on   
a comic book she`d snuck in her biology book before coming to Rei`s   
place.  
  
"I remember the last meteorite; brought us nothing but trouble." said   
Makoto, refering to the aliens Alan and Ann.  
  
"Cheer up, Makoto, every single meteorite can`t bring us a new enemy   
from the stars!" replied Minako with her cheery enthusiasm.  
  
"You know..." said the suddenly attentive Usagi, "I think we`ve all   
been enough trouble to Rei for tonight. Why don`t we go home now?"  
  
The others looked at her suspiciously and with good reason- she was   
trying to drop by the game center for a quick game or two before   
going to see Mamoru.  
  
"Regardless of Usagi`s ulterior motives for saying so, she`s right.   
We`ll pick up from here tomorrow after school." said Ami.  
  
The phone rang at that moment so Rei excused herself and answered.   
The girls left with their books, Usagi being the fastest one to   
vanish from sight.  
  
"Hello, who`s there?" asked Rei.  
  
"An old acquaintance." answered a girl at the other end of the line.   
"Tell me, Rei, do you remember Celeste?"  
  
"Can`t say I do, but your voice does sound familiar."  
  
"We have to meet right now, it`s really important! I`ll explain   
everything to you when we see each other. Now, here`s where I`ll   
be..."  
  
* * *  
  
Later that evening Rei waited in the park for this Celeste to show   
up. She thought it was strange that an "old friend" she didn`t know   
she had would pop up like this out of the blue. She also knew stranger   
things had happened before, such as becoming Sailor Mars or   
discovering that the moon princess was really Usagi.  
  
"Rei?" said a voice behind her.  
  
She turned around and saw a young girl with devilishly green eyes and   
fiery red hair. She knew intuitively this was Celeste, although she   
couldn`t say why.  
  
"Celeste?" asked Rei.  
  
"Do you remember yet?"  
  
"I`m sorry but no. You seem to know me well, when have we met   
before?"  
  
"Before I answer your questions, can we go somewhere a bit more   
private? I`d be more comfortable this way." asked Celeste.  
  
"All right, but I`d really like to find out who you are..."  
  
"Don`t worry, you`ll find out."  
  
They walked along a trail wich led them into a small wooded area.   
After a few minutes, they emerged into a cleared patch where you   
could see nothing but trees and the darkened sky as the sun set   
slowly. Rei did not like that place as something evil felt close by.  
  
"Celeste, who the hell are you?!?" she asked bluntly.  
  
"Let me show you..." she answered as she opened her purse and pulled   
out a transformation pen identical to Rei`s. She lifted it up and   
yelled the magical words.  
  
"MARS STAR POWER... MAKEUP!"  
  
In a surge of fire, Celeste`s blouse and skirt faded away in exchange   
of a Sailor Mars uniform. Rei was shocked!  
  
"You can`t be Sailor Mars, I am!" she said in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, you are indeed. A thousand years ago, I was robbed of my sacred   
duty as a sailor scout and you were chosen to replace me. You did a   
great job so far, but now is the time to reinstate the TRUE Sailor   
Mars, myself." calmly explained Celeste.  
  
"You`re saying I have to step down?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"What if I refuse?"  
  
"You don`t have a choice in the matter. I`ve been in exile a   
thousand years, I`m not about to give up. Just give up the mantle   
gracefully and be done with it."  
  
"We`ll see about that... MARS STAR POWER... MAKEUP!" screamed Rei,   
turning into Sailor Mars as well.  
  
"The uniform suits you well." commented Celeste.  
  
"I`m not going to give it up either!" said Rei.  
  
"Is that the way you want it?"  
  
"That`s the way it is."  
  
"Let`s see who`s the best Sailor Mars, then!" said Celeste with   
rage in her eyes before attacking Rei.  
  
Rei dodged the leaping kick aimed at her head and pulled out one   
of her good luck charms wich she charged with energy:  
  
"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!"  
  
She threw the charm swiftly; Celeste rose her hand and deflected the   
charm wich fell down at Rei`s feet with no effect.  
  
"My turn now... MARS INFERNAL FIRESTORM..." began Celeste.  
  
A wide circle of fire formed around Rei`s feet; she didn`t know what   
to expect, unfortunately, so before she could leap out Celeste   
completed her power words.  
  
"...BLAZE!!!"  
  
The circle filled itself with fire, burning Rei up to her ankles,   
then extended upwards in a pillar of searing flames wich engulfed   
the helpless scout, eating through her clothes and scorching her   
skin beyond human healing capacity. As the fire subsided a few   
seconds later, she fell to the ground. Rei was battered and broken,   
clinging on to her life through willpower alone. The pugnant stench   
of charred skin and burnt hair filled the air around her.  
  
"You lose, Rei, see you next incarnation. Oh, by the way, you won`t   
need this anymore." said Celeste as she picked up the half-burned   
charm lying on the ground.  
  
She walked away and left the mortally wounded scout to die.  
  
The searing pain that wracked her body kept her alive yet threatened   
to push her over in the next world at the same time. Through a dark   
veil forming over her eyes, she saw a silhouette coming in her   
direction. She hoped it was Usagi who could have followed her to the   
park by curiosity and could bring help. Another part of her hoped it   
was Celeste coming back to put an end to this intolerable suffering.  
  
It was neither.  
  
The pilot of the Avatar looked down on the dying Sailor Mars and   
felt responsible for what happened to her.  
  
"Forgive me, Rei. I couldnt find her until she did this to you, used   
her powers. I`ll make this right, I promise." he said.  
  
He unfolded a medical blanket he brought with him and covered Mars as   
much as he could to prevent any further infection of her wounds. He   
picked her up in his arms and felt her fleeting existence as she   
clutched on to life.  
  
"I promise."  
  
* * *  
  
Thump thump.  
  
And so Rei floated barely conscious in the dermal regeneration   
liquid in a state of accelerated healing. No earth medecine could   
have done so much for her thrid degree burns in so little time.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
The powerful and ancient Technuma Saturn watched over his medical   
scanners, waiting for signs of improvement in his patient`s   
condition. He had hoped to avert such a disaster but found himself   
powerless to prevent what destiny predicted would eventually   
happen. Rei was paying for his failure.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
"Your subdermal layer is completely regenerated, now. Only a few   
more days and you`ll be healed." he said.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
* * *  
  
"Still no news about Rei." said Ami.  
  
It had already been a week since her disapearance. Never before had   
she been away for so long; she didn`t even call to say where she was,   
which made the scouts imagine the worse. The police had her   
description, but nothing turned up so far, not even the smallest   
clue to her whereabouts.  
  
"I`m so afraid for her, Ami!" said Usagi.  
  
Minako hugged Usagi to reassure her. "We all are." she said.  
  
They all missed Rei very much; things had not been the same without   
her around.  
  
A knock at the door disturbed this sad moment. It was Yuuichiro.  
  
"Sorry to barge in like this, girls, but there`s someone who says   
that she has to see you right away and that it`s very important.   
Should I let her in?" he said in a dull lifeless tone.  
  
The scouts had been suspecting for months now that he was secretly in   
love with Rei. If that was true, he was certainly suffering a lot.   
Yuuichiro did manage to keep a strong face nonetheless.  
  
"Show her in, please." said Ami.  
  
With a really shy expression on her face, Celeste walked in.  
  
"I`ll go see my friends around town, maybe they heard something."   
said Yuuichiro before leaving.  
  
The girls noticed how tall Celeste was; almost as tall as Makoto. She   
introduced herself.  
  
"Hello, my name is Celeste. If I`m not mistaken, you must be Minako,   
Ami, Makoto and Usagi, right?"  
  
She guessed correctly and intrigued the girls.  
  
"Last night I had a dream. Well, more like a vision actually." she   
explained. "I was in a great temple with many gold torches burning   
around me. A priestess with long black hair came to me saying that   
the power of mars had been vanquished in her and that it had been   
bestowed on me so that I may replace her as Sailor Mars. She told   
me to seek the other sailor scouts in this place and revealed your   
real names. She also said she was sorry to leave her friends   
behind..."  
  
She took out of her purse the singed luck charm.  
  
"I found it next to my bed, this morning, along with a   
transformation tool to become Sailor Mars." she said.  
  
"I can`t believe it... Rei is... really... gone." said Usagi as   
tears rolled down her face.  
  
"We`ll never forget you, Rei." barely managed to say Makoto.  
  
Amy couldn`t talk at all; her usual countenance and restraint just   
broke down in an emotional tsunami as she cried out her pain.   
Minako didn`t say anything either; she just held Usagi even closer,   
trying to bring comfort to her friend as well as to herself.  
  
"I`m so sorry for your loss..." said Celeste, her eyes filled with   
fake sorrow.  
  
In her head, however, she was smiling like a maniac. Celeste was   
playing the scouts like a well-tuned violin and would have no trouble   
winning their trust.  
  
"How are we going to tell Rei`s grandfather?" asked Makoto who was   
still trying to get a grip on her emotions.  
  
"What about poor Yuuichiro?" asked Minako.  
  
* * *  
  
Technuma Saturn sat in the cockpit of the Avatar, occupying but one   
of the many pilot seats. It had been many centuries since all seats   
were used at once by the Technum guardians. At that very moment,   
this thought was far from his mind as he was working to stop yet   
another surge in the ship`s power systems.  
  
"Having hiccups again, old girl? Let me take care of that for you."   
he said in a paternalistic fashion.  
  
All over the ship, lights were blinking on and off for a while. This   
light show woke up Rei who was lying in a bed of what seemed to be   
some kind of recovery room. Her body was stiff and sore, but she had   
no injuries that she could see. This was odd because she distinctly   
remembered being torched alive. Even her hair had grown back to its   
full lenght! Her mouth was filled with the bitter-sweet taste of the   
dermal regeneration fluid and she found it rather pleasant.  
  
Her wounds healed and injuries tended, Sailor Mars came back from   
what almost was her tragic death.  
  
On a chair next to the bed, she saw a folded sapphire blue uniform   
waiting for her. It was at that point she realized her sailor scout   
uniform went up in smoke and that she wasn`t wearing anything under   
the bedsheets- quite embarassing, actually. She picked up the   
uniform and reckognized the symbol of saturn sewn on the chest and   
right arm. When she unfolded it, she noticed it was way too large   
for her. Hell, Mamoru wasn`t that tall himself! A small note fell   
from a pocket. It said:  
  
"Sorry about the size, it`s all I have."  
  
Rei slipped in the oversized suit and rolled the legs and sleeves   
until she could see her hands and feet emerge. This wasn`t the   
greatest choice of clothes she ever had, but she could hardly walk   
around naked, could she? She left the room and took a coridor,   
unsure of where she was going. Wherever she was, it certainly looked   
like some kind of spaceship. She went around for a minute or so   
before she smelled a delicious odour of bacon; she hadn`t eaten in   
what seemed like days and was famished, so she followed the smell all   
the way to what looked like a mess hall.   
  
A tall man was sitting at a metallic table, eating his meal. He was   
wearing a blue uniform identical to the one she had found next to   
her bed, except it fitted him like a glove. Rei assumed he was the   
one who lent him the uniform.  
  
"Ah, Rei, you`re awake!" said the man as he noticed her come in.   
"For a moment there, I was afraid you wouldn`t make it. Come sit   
down, I`ll fix you breakfast. It`s almost midnight, but seeing how   
you skipped quite a few meals recently it`s best to start with   
something not too overly elaborate to get your stomach back on   
track."  
  
Rei`s stomach growled a loud positive response to the suggestion.   
She sat down as he got started on fixing her meal.  
  
"Hum... did I dream being toasted alive? I mean, my skin is all   
right and my hair looks fine." she asked.  
  
"That was no dream, I can tell you. You had third degree burns over   
most of your body; the dermal regeneration fluid took care of that   
with the additional side effect of having your hair grow sixty times   
faster than normal. You`re fine now, you won`t even have any scars."   
he explained as he cracked a couple of eggs to fry alongside a few   
slices of bacon. "The only downside is that ALL of your body hair   
grew faster; it`s just like you haven`t shaved your legs in months."   
he added.  
  
"You know me but I don`t know you; last time, it got me fried."   
said Rei.  
  
"I`m Technuma Saturn." he said, presenting Rei with an appetizing   
plate. "Eat up, Sailor Mars. You need it after your extended   
treatment."  
  
"Who are you and why are you here?" Rei asked as she dug in.  
  
"I`m a Technum guardian, the last one to be exact. We had the ability   
to feel and control a force called the Technum. Its flux binds the   
solar system together, creates and sustains life. To ensure the   
security of the moon kingdom a thousand years ago, Queen Serenity   
asked us a favor: for each one of us to select a special girl and   
train her to tap and use the power of Technum. Being in her debt,   
we accepted. Their training was long and hard, so difficult that   
not even the memory loss of reincarnation would alter their skills.   
They became the SAILOR SCOUTS!"  
  
"Wait a minute!" interrupted Rei. "If EVERY guardian trained a   
scout, where are Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and... Saturn?"  
  
"You need not know this at the present. All that matters is that   
after a long training, they were ready and defended the moon kingdom   
with great distinction... until one of them commited a terrible   
crime."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"It was Celeste, who had been trained to be Sailor Mars. She   
attempted to drain the essence of both Sailor Jendra and Kitechnum   
Jendra, killing them in the process."  
  
"But there`s no planet Jendra!" observed Rei.  
  
"No, not any more. When she tried using her newfound power, she   
instead released it all at once; it`s Technum flow destabilized   
beyond tolerable levels, Jendra was destroyed and turned into the   
asteroid belt located between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars." he   
explained.  
  
"THAT`S AWFUL!"  
  
"Yes, it is. When Celeste was captured and brought to justice,   
Queen Serenity would not hear of a death sentence, so the disgraced   
Sailor Mars was condemned to float in deep space, trapped in a   
derelict ship. afterwards, you were chosen to replace her. Never   
again was Celeste`s name mentionned in the Queen`s court who   
considered you to be the TRUE Sailor Mars. At that moment, Queen   
Serenity had us all take an oath of non-interference so that we   
never tempt anyone else with our great power."  
  
Rei swallowed another bite and kept on pressing him with questions.  
  
"Didn`t you say earlier you were the last one alive?"  
  
"True. While I was making sure that Celeste`s ship stayed on course,   
Queen Beryl attacked the moon- the guardians were there when she   
released Queen Metallia. Suddenly, I was all alone in the universe.   
I floated around for all this time until I realized her prison ship   
had left orbit and crashed on earth. I figured she`d want her old   
job back and I was right. I`d like to appologize for not reaching   
you in time."  
  
"You mentionned an *extended treatment* a few minutes ago, how long   
did it last?"  
  
"A week, which is remarkably short for the extent of your wounds."  
  
"A WEEK?! How am I going to explain this to grandpa and my friends?"  
  
"To your grandfather, you could pretend it was amnesia. It`s a   
plausible story that would pretty much cover your week AND save   
you a lot of complicated explaining. To the sailor scouts, just   
tell the truth! They`ll understand."  
  
Another power surge made the lights blink again. This time, an   
alarm went off as well.  
  
"The cloak is unstable- we could be detected!" said Technuma.  
  
"Where are we anyway?" asked Rei.  
  
"An abandonned amusement park; the only place I could land my   
starship discreetly. If someone sees the cloak go off, we`ll be   
found for sure."  
  
* * *  
  
By some strange twist of fate, Celeste was passing in front of the   
old amusement park gates when she saw the Avatar`s cloaking system   
flicker. She smiled wickedly, for luck was with her tonight. Not   
only had the police not been able to identify Rei`s charred corpse-   
who hadn`t been reported as murdered yet- but now the last   
remaining witness of her past crimes was right at her fingertips.  
  
"MARS STAR POWER... MAKEUP!"   
  
Rings of fire circled around her and she transformed into Sailor   
Mars; she was ready to silence the Technum guardian once and   
for all.  
  
"Time to reach out and TORCH someone." she whispered to herself.  
  
* * *  
  
Leaving Rei behind in the mess hall to finish her meal, Technuma   
Saturn went to the cockpit to inspect the engineering subsystem   
control programs. One of them had to be the root of the recurring   
problem. He was so busy going through the various submenus that he   
didn`t notice his security monitors picking up on the intruder   
making her way to the cockpit.  
  
At the same time, Rei finished her plate and decided to see if   
Technuma needed any help with his repairs. Ami would have surely   
known what to do to fix the ship, but she wasn`t there. She had a   
little difficulty locating the cockpit at first, however the   
efficiency-oriented layout of the Avatar helped her a lot. Rei   
was shocked to see the guardian unconscious in his seat, knocked   
out form a severe blow to the back of his head.  
  
"Technuma, wake up! WAKE UP!" she screamed as she shaked him hard.  
  
The computer was going hyper and was counting down to some   
unidentified time-delayed function. Slowly opening his eyes, he   
looked at Rei and whispered "It was Celeste, wasn`t it? I should   
have killed her when I had the chance."  
  
"How could you know she was going to blindside you like this?"   
asked Rei.  
  
"I mean a thousand years ago, after she killed Laurella, Sailor   
Jendra. After she murdered Kitechnum Jendra. After she destroyed   
planet Jendra. When I finally captured her, you pleaded me not to   
kill her, to give her a chance at a fair trial."  
  
"Why would I have done that? She was so dangerous and had taken   
so many lives already..."  
  
"Because despite her sins, you did not want your older sister to   
die." said Technuma.  
  
Rei didn`t know what to say. Technuma analysed his computer readings   
and looked rather grim.  
  
"She rigged a self-destruct sequence in the ship`s core." he said.  
  
"How much damage can that do?"  
  
"She must have thought this ship has a standard fusion drive which   
could flatten a few city blocks, but she`s wrong. The Avatar uses   
a prototype transfusion core that could wipe out the entire city   
and most likely ignite the oxygen in a chain reaction that will burn   
out the atmosphere."  
  
"That`s bad. Can you stop it?"  
  
"No, the overload sequence is too far ahead to be turned back. You`ll   
have to leave the ship now- I`ll take it into the upper atmosphere   
where it can explode without destroying the whole planet. Go, go, go!   
There`s less than four minutes left." he said.  
  
"Thank you for saving my life." said Rei.  
  
"It was my responsability to correct my mistake- but it was also a   
great honor to help you. Leave now, Sailor Mars, you must stop   
Celeste yourself!"  
  
* * *  
  
Seconds after Rei stepped off the Avatar, it took off in a hurry   
and blasted up in a straight line into the highest reaches of the   
atmosphere, further than the highest artificial satellite`s orbit.   
It became a small bright point in the sky, indistinguishable from   
the surrounding stars.  
  
There was a blinding flash followed by utter darkness.  
  
When Rei was able to see again, she saw the carcass of the Avatar   
re-entering the atmosphere as a flaming meteorite, a final farewell   
to the heroic Technum guardians of the silver millenium.  
  
The asphalt under Rei`s feet was pretty cold, making her wish   
Technuma would have had some footwear roughly her size to go with   
the oversized clothes he had given her. She then remembered she   
could get a perfect fit with her sailor uniform.  
  
"MARS STAR POWER... MAKEUP!" she screamed.  
  
Blazing rings of fire surrounded Rei, eclipsing the blue uniform   
with the red scout attire of Sailor Mars. Fortunately for Rei,   
the magical transformation process had not been compromised by   
her previous incineration at Celeste`s hands.  
  
A voice all too familiar came from behind her as she transformed.  
  
"No, you`re dead! I destroyed you!" said a fear stricken Celeste.  
  
"Wrong, Celeste. You only killed yourself by staining your soul with   
the blood of others. Your actions are inexcusable and justice will   
be served!" replied Rei with conviction.  
  
Celeste panicked and ran off with Rei in pursuit.  
  
* * *  
  
"No doubt about it." said Ami, her attention focused on her active   
laptop. "That explosion up there was some kind of space vehicule,   
and so was the strange power reading I got earlier. I have the   
origin of the signal pinpointed, I think we should go see if there   
are any passengers left behind."  
  
"Okay, Ami, you go ahead while I gather the other scouts. We`ll   
meet you in a few minutes." said Makoto who was having a study   
session with Ami at the time. She was glad for this interruption   
as the session was running really late; was there no limit to Ami`s   
capacity to study?  
  
* * *  
  
Knowing she couldn`t run all night, Celeste tried to hide by   
entering one of the abandonned attractions. Rei was able to discern   
her go in despite the darkness, so she followed her. She quickly   
located a light switch and flipped it on; in the now very bright   
room, a hundred mirrors gave a thousand reflections of both sailor   
scouts.  
  
"Celeste, I know you`re here. Why not take advantage of these   
mirrors to look upon the blood marks on your soul?"  
  
"Because I would only see you, how you cheated me, robbed all I ever   
was! No one deserved it more, no one was dedicated like I was!"  
  
The sound of their voices bounced around in chaotic patterns, making   
it impossible to locate each other amidst the images.  
  
"It was your insatiable lust for power that caused your fall and   
pushed you to cold blooded murder." observed Rei as she tried to   
find Celeste.  
  
"Maybe so... but at least one of us has the guts to get what she   
wants!" said Celeste before sending a fireball to Rei, thinking she   
finally figured wich one was real. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!"  
  
The fireball impacted one of the many mirrors; it was instantly   
smashed by the intense heat.  
  
"Missed." clamly said Rei, her image reflected by dozens of mirrors   
from all angles possible and impossible.  
  
Celeste fired again, again, again still, breaking a shining silver   
surface each time.  
  
"Heed the mighty call of karmic justice, Celeste, hear it call your   
name!" said Rei, her voice so calm that it was almost frightning.  
  
Unable to contain her boiling rage anymore, Celeste screamed and   
unleashed all of her fiery power in one single thundrous roar,   
showering the entire hall of mirrors with scorching hellfire. All   
of the remaining mirrors were shattered at once, sending thousands   
of lethal glass shards flying in the air.  
  
Then silence returned, dreadful song of death.  
  
* * *  
  
Guided by Ami`s computer readings, the scouts arrived at the old   
amusement park minus the new Sailor Mars who was nowhere to be found.   
They saw the burning hall of mirrors.  
  
"What happened here?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"Could Sailor Mars possibly be here... IN THERE?" wondered Sailor   
Jupiter.  
  
"Someone`s coming out!" said Sailor Mercury.  
  
Out of the searing fire came two silhouettes, one carrying the other   
in her arms. When they got close enough, they reckognized Rei; she   
was holding the lifeless body of the girl who would have replaced   
her at any cost, her body torn by a dozen deadly shards. Celeste   
had lost too much blood to sustain her earthly existence and had   
passed away.  
  
"Rei... you`re still alive... but how?" said the astonished Usagi.  
  
"She tried to destroy me to regain what she lost by her own   
disregard for life. A lifetime ago, she was my sister, a destroyer   
of worlds. Now she`s a lost soul who will spend eons atoning her   
blood-stained existence." explained Rei.  
  
The scouts` joy over Rei`s return was marred by the death of Celeste;   
they had barely begun to know her and she seemed so nice from what   
little they knew of her.  
  
"She will need a proper funeral. She deserves this much." added Rei.  
  
* * *  
  
Two days later, Celeste was put to her final rest. Rei was there,   
along with the scouts, Mamoru and her good friend Yuuichiro. The   
pouring rain, the gloomy sky, the black clothes, the headstones...   
this depressing setting was exacting a heavy toll on Sailor Mars.   
After all, she`d been so close to ending up here herself...  
  
Usagi must have felt it because she moved close to Rei and gave   
her a warm hug.  
  
"You know, Rei, when Celeste told us you were dead, I felt like   
my whole world was collapsing." she said.  
  
"Hey, you`ll always need someone to push you in the right direction   
every now and then. That`s why I`m here." said Rei, a hint of a   
smile on her lips.  
  
"What`s that supposed to mean?!?" replied Usagi, a big smile on her   
face.  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE...  
  
In the earth`s upper atmosphere, some junk pieces of the Avatar   
floated around in nearly total weightlessness. One of them, a long,   
black, unmarked cylinder emitted a homing signal undetectable by   
human communication systems.  
  
The starship Banshee decloaked next to it, picked it up, recloaked   
and left.  
  
After a few hours travel, it docked on a secret starbase stationned   
near a moon of saturn. The cylinder was unloaded by the pilot of the   
starship, a deceptively young looking black haired woman whose ruby   
red uniform bore the crest of mars. She opened the cleverly   
disguised escape pod and awoke its passenger.  
  
"Wake up, Technuma, that`s enough deep sleep for now!" said Technara   
Mars.  
  
"Well, hello Technara. It`s been a few weeks since I`ve been away   
from saturn station dealing with that Celeste situation, how have   
things been going in my absence?"  
  
"Like usual. What about your mission? Were you able to keep our   
secret from Sailor Mars?"  
  
"Yes and no. I had to reveal myself after Celeste almost killed her,   
so I told her you were all dead and then faked my own death. Celeste   
tried to destroy the Avatar and I could have averted her amateurish   
attempt easily, but it was too good an opportunity to preserve our   
secret to pass up. Besides, the Avatar had fifteen hundred years of   
continuous service already, so it was close to reaching the end of   
its useful life anyhow."  
  
"Did Sailor Mars destroy Celeste?"  
  
"Yes, I felt the Technum fluctuate just before I went into deep   
sleep. She`s gone for good. You trained a fantastic sailor scout,   
Technara."  
  
"So did you, Technuma."  
  
"I wouldn`t say that, you know what happened to Sailor Saturn."  
  
"You shouldn`t worry, the scouts can handle that problem when they   
face it. The Prime is confident everything will turn out fine.   
Speaking of him, he`s expecting you in his meditation chamber."  
  
"I`ll be right there, I just want to drop by the memorial room   
first."  
  
* * *  
  
The memorial room was a remembrance gift to the one Technum guardian   
who ever truly died, Kitechnum Jendra. So was the great secret of   
the guardians: if one of them dies, the Technum flux is so affected   
by it that this guardian`s planet is immediately destroyed. Queen   
Serenity understood this only too well, this is why she asked them   
to remain out of sight to prevent another greedy individual to try   
and steal their power.  
  
A huge statue of Kitechnum Jendra and his scout student Laurella   
along with an accurate map of the solar system that included planet   
Jendra dominated the room. At the bottom of the statue was ingraved   
a warning:  
  
NEVER AGAIN  
  
The guardians` lives were primordial to the survival of the planets,   
but no life was quite as important as that of the Prime, for his   
life was linked to the source of all Technum, the sun. His death   
would turn the sun nova within seconds, swallowing the entire solar   
system in fiery cosmic shockwaves.  
  
The guardians, for all their strenght and powers, could never risk   
themselves to defend the solar system. That is why they trained the   
greatest defenderd the universe had ever known, the SAILOR SCOUTS.  
  
"Maybe the Prime is right after all, everything will be just   
fine..." thought Technuma to himself.  
  
  
The End.  



	5. Cosmic Convergence

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Out of all the stories I wrote, this one has to be the most   
confusing.  
  
You see, I like to see the characters I create come to life, in a   
way they are my children. When they die, it`s always a sad moment.   
This story is my own way of bringing them back without resorting   
to an endless number of resurrections like a certain comic book   
company has been doing these past few years (if you think I mean   
Marvel, you`re right).  
  
If you`re really, really perceptive and you have the temporal   
imagination of, say, Einstein, you`ll notice right away there are   
a few temporal discrepencies in my fanfic; it took me a couple of   
months and many proofreadings to find them even though I did write   
this myself. Since correcting them would have meant major rewrites,   
I figured "the hell with it!". Besides, the timeline of this story   
is so completely warped that it`s barely noticeable.  
  
This is why I`m presenting the story as is, uncorrected and just   
as easily readable. If you find exactly what the discrepencies are,   
drop me a line and tell me. Those with the correct answers will get   
bonus points and my heartfelt congratulations.  
  
This being said, enjoy!  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE FIVE  
  
COSMIC CONVERGENCE  
  
  
Sitting by herself in her room, Usagi stared at the full moon in the   
star filled sky. She was dreaming once again about her sweet Mamoru,   
wondering why he ignored her and what she might have done wrong to   
upset him. She had bumped into him earlier that day in front of the   
game center (so what else is new?) and he still wouldn`t talk to   
her or explain his reasons for leaving her.  
  
Right now, Usagi felt like she was going to cry; she loved him from   
the first time he came to her rescue as Tuxedo Kamen; she loved him   
even more since she discovered his true identity while they fought   
Zoisite for the rainbow crystals. Rei kept telling her that she was   
sure Mamoru loved her very much and simply refused to show it for   
some reason, but how could she know for sure? Sometimes love fades   
away, Usagi had seen it happen.  
  
She started to cry.  
  
The door opened and a little pink-haired girl took a peek; Chibi-Usa   
saw Usagi crying and felt sad for her.  
  
"Meatball head is in tears again." she thought. "I bet it`s over   
Mamoru... maybe I should try to help her out, somehow I feel those   
two belong together."  
  
She walked in on Usagi with her Luna ball hovering behind. Chibi-Usa   
didn`t really know what she could say, she had always seen her   
parents so happy with each other; she had little experience mending   
broken hearts, so she just stood next to her, smiling, with a glow   
in her eyes that said "please don`t cry, I`m here for you".   
  
Usagi hugged the cute miniature version of herself and felt a little   
better.  
  
"Chibi-Usa, I`ve always been so rotten with you, what do you still   
hang around me for?" she asked.  
  
"Don`t know. Maybe I just want to learn from your mistakes so I don`t   
repeat them." she replied.  
  
"You really are a little spore, you know that?"  
  
"That`s why you love me!"  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru stopped his motorcycle and took off his helmet. He looked at   
the silver moon shining high above and couldn`t help thinking about   
his precious moon princess. He felt empty inside because he was apart   
from his true love. Just as he thought of Usagi, he had yet another   
vision, always the same, striking on cue as he began doubting the   
veracity of this dark premonition.  
  
A beautiful city made out of the purest crystal stretched as far as   
his eyes could see- he`s never seen this city outside of his dreams,   
yet he is certain that it must be Crystal Tokyo. He could hear the   
voice of Usagi calling out to him:  
  
"Help me, Endymion!"  
  
He desperately wanted to help her but could only watch helplessly   
as the entire city was torn to shreds by a huge explosion, killing   
everyone including the moon princess. From the smoking ashes another   
voice arose, sinister and gloomy: "If you want to save the princess,   
to save the future, you must STAY AWAY FROM HER! The fate of the   
world is depending on it!"  
  
The horrible image went away in a second, leaving nothing more than   
terrible memories for Mamoru. He didn`t want to hurt Usagi as he was   
doing right now; he didn`t want to see her get hurt in the future,   
either.  
  
"I love you so much, Usagi... that`s why I must stay far from you."   
he whispered in the wind.  
  
He walked up the stairs and entered his empty appartment. As he took   
off his shoes, he looked down on the floor to see if Usagi had   
slipped a love letter under his door again; she had done this many   
times in the past few weeks and he was hoping for another one that   
night.  
  
Not this time, though.  
  
* * *  
  
At the Cherry Hill temple, inside the house of the resident shinto   
priest, Rei and Minako were engaged in some star watching of their   
own; movie stars, to be exact. After her daily chores, Rei had   
invited Minako to watch movies and one of them in particular got   
them thinking.  
  
It was the story of a man who meets destiny and asks him what would   
his life be like if he`d been a more successful baseball player as   
a teenager. Destiny then transforms his life accordingly from the   
moment where everything changed- the one swing that would have had   
him noticed by the big league talent scouts had he hit the ball.   
The man discovers that even though he became a major league star   
and a very rich man, his life had no meaning because the woman he   
loved wasn`t in it; being a sport star had kept him from ever   
meeting her.  
  
"Isn`t it strange how so many lives can be affected by a single   
person? Can you even begin to imagine how our lives would be if I   
hadn`t met Usagi or Artemis hadn`t found you?" wondered Rei.  
  
"Yeah, I can. Every time something can happen, it does. In a million   
different worlds, history takes a billion different roads. In one of   
them Usagi never became Sailor Moon, or maybe she was the sole   
survivor from the battle with Queen Beryl; in another, maybe I   
remained in England as Sailor V..." said Minako, leaving her phrase   
unfinished. "...and somewhere out there my dear love Jedite never   
died. " she thought with sorrow as she looked at her right hand and   
the scars in her palm.  
  
"We can`t spend our whole lives wondering what might have been.   
We`ll never know for certain and that`s probably a good thing too."   
said Rei.  
  
* * *  
  
A few blocks away, Makoto and Ami were spending some quiet time   
reading, although their choices of books was eclectic to say the   
least; Ami was learning more about molecular biology while Makoto   
read about the adventures of a romantic mercenary in medieval   
japan (who reminded her a lot about her ex-boyfriend, go figure   
out why).  
  
They were both very relaxed and in no mood to fight off evil monsters   
who screamed their own names real loud; fortunately, there were none   
to be found in Tokyo that evening, otherwise it would certainly have   
found its way to Naru by then as they always did.  
  
* * *  
  
To make a long story short, no one was expecting or even suspecting   
reality to collapse on itself any time soon as it was about to do in   
the following hours.  
  
* * *  
  
After helping Usagi feel better about herself by providing a   
shoulder to cry on and watching her pig out on double chocolate ice   
cream, Chibi-Usa went back to her room, thinking hard about her   
purpose in Tokyo`s past. The time portal should have worked the   
day before when she tried to activate it, but it did not.  
  
"What AM I still hanging Usagi for? Rubeus was destroyed and the   
past is safe from him now. Why can`t I return even if I don`t have   
the crystal? It doesn`t matter anymore!"  
  
She removed her necklace and held up the tiny golden key it was   
attached to. This key was much more than mere jewelry as it   
controlled the time gate that would allow her to go back to her   
own time in the future... if only it would work.  
  
"Time portal, open now!" she said loudly, holding the key in the   
air as high as her little arm allowed.  
  
For some reason, the time portal just wouldn`t open. Unlike her   
previous attempts, however, something DID happen. Something that   
would affect the life of every single being in the whole of   
existence. Her repeated attempts to go back home had breached a   
hole in time, warping the fabric of spacetime in the process.   
Timelines intertwined in an unpredictable pattern more twisted   
than the entire dark kingdom and dark moon put together.  
  
Caught amidst the maelstrom of time and space, Chibi-Usa suddenly   
came face to face with her mother... she was home.  
  
* * *  
  
Early in the morning, Usagi woke up late as usual.  
  
"WHAAA! EIGHT TWENTY?!? Why didn`t anyone wake me up, I`m sooo   
late!"  
  
She got dressed for school in a hurry, grabbed breakfast very fast   
and swalowed it almost whole on her dash to school. So far, there   
was nothing out of the ordinary. She then charged head first into   
Mamoru who was coming from the other direction; she bounced off   
his stomach and landed hard on the sidewalk. Nothing out of the   
ordinary.  
  
"Oh, its you..." she said in a dull tone, expecting a heartless   
reply to the effect that she should leave him alone.  
  
"What`s the matter, meatball head? Can`t walk two blocks without   
falling down?" he said as he pulled down his sunglasses. "Well, I   
shouldn`t expect too much from a total clutz, after all. Any chance   
you might cause MORE than thirty accidents today or are you sticking   
to your daily quota?" he added in a sarcastic tone, mocking her   
with a vengence.  
  
"Mamoru, why are you so mean to me all of a sudden?" she asked,   
surprised of his attitude.  
  
"Nothing sudden about it, meatball head. I`ve been like this ever   
since the first day you walked in the game center... or should I   
say FELL in! See ya` round, meatball head!" concluded Mamoru as   
he put his shades back on and kept on walking.  
  
"What was THAT all about?" she wondered.  
  
Usagi heard a cat meowing to her side and saw Luna who was rubbing   
herself on her leg. She was purring very loudly as she did so.  
  
"Hello, Luna, nice of you to pay me a visit. Where were you this   
morning?"  
  
"Meow."  
  
"So you`re not gonna tell me, are you? Were you seeing Hercules   
again? Or was it Artemis?" asked Usagi. She knew well that she   
could get Luna all worked up simply by mentioning the possibility of   
her being involved romantically with Minako`s cat guardian.  
  
"Meow."  
  
"So you`re not talking to me, are you? You`re mad at me or   
something?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"I`m late for school anyway, I`ll talk to you later."  
  
"Meow."  
  
* * *  
  
Although Usagi had no idea what happened with Luna not talking and   
Mamoru being a jerk, it couldn`t be serious; after all, everything   
else was just the same, right?  
  
"All right, class, now we`re going to correct your homework.   
Remember that even though it`s geography, spelling and neatness   
count!" said Miss Haruna.  
  
"Oh no! I was so depressed last night that I forgot about it!"   
thought Usagi whose heart accelerated over 1000 RPM.  
  
"We need someone to read their essay first, let`s see now..."  
  
"PLEASEDON`TPICKMEPLEASEDON`TPICKMEPLEASEDON`TPICKME" thought very   
hard Usagi, hoping this improvised mantra could save her. Her heart   
reached about warp 8 or so.  
  
"Usagi! You go first."  
  
"Well, Miss Haruna, hum... I sorta... I mean... huuu..." she   
mumbled.  
  
"Are you trying to say you DIDN`T do your assignment?"  
  
"Guilty as charged, your honor." whispered Usagi in a barely   
audible voice that only a high school teacher had the training   
to hear.  
  
"Don`t worry, Usagi, I can understand."  
  
"You can?"  
  
"Yes, Usagi, you had a very difficult project at the science fair   
yesterday, and you did extremely well! You were certainly very tired   
at the end of the day. Since your work is always on time and done so   
well, I`ll just let it slide by this time." explained the teacher   
with a warm smile.  
  
Now Usagi knew for sure something was horribly wrong.  
  
* * *  
  
During the lunch hour, she sat in a corner all alone, looking around   
for the other scouts. Oddly enough, she couldn`t find either Ami or   
Makoto. she would have gladly gone to Rei`s or Minako`s private   
school to talk to them about this, but she preferred not to leave   
just in case something even weirder happened on her way there.  
  
Naru came to Usagi and smiled. "Now you know what it feels like to   
be me." she said.  
  
"What do you mean?" Usagi asked.  
  
"You`re a straight A student, it must feel weird not to have your   
homework done on time. I sure know how that feels, I`ve been there   
quite often myself."  
  
Usagi was puzzled. A straight A student? HER? It made no sense.  
  
"So, where`s Umino? I thought he`d be with you right now." said   
Usagi.  
  
"That nerd? I was lucky enough to avoid him all morning. Besides,   
YOU`RE the one he`s got the crush on, remember?" replied Naru.  
  
Usagi looked back on the information she had so far: Naru wasn`t in   
love with Umino, Luna didn`t talk, Mamoru was a total jerk, the   
other scouts didn`t seem to exist and she was a straight A student.   
Yup. Either she had been hit over the head recently or she was in   
bizarro world or something. Like this was the wrong universe.   
  
The wrong universe? With all the weird stuff hapening to her all the   
time, it wasn`t so far fetched, now, was it? There was an easy way   
to test that theory.  
  
"Say, Naru, have you ever been... I don`t know... attacked by some   
wacked-out energy sucking monster that screamed its own name all the   
time?" she asked her friend.  
  
"Oh, goodness, no! If I ever saw a monster, I`d flip out or   
something." Naru replied.  
  
Usagi had her answer.  
  
* * *  
  
After school she went straight home- she had a feeling the only   
person she`d find at the temple was a lonely old priest with a taste   
for young women. She came across her mother in the kitchen.  
  
"Mom, have you seen Chibi-Usa anywhere?"  
  
"Chibi-Usa? Is she a classmate of yours?"  
  
"Yeah, something like that... thanks anyway."  
  
Usagi walked up the stairs and opened the door to where she knew the   
little rabbit had her room- or WOULD have her room if she actually   
existed in this world. She saw a pink swirling mass of water-like   
light floating in the air in wich she could see thousands of rapidly   
changing images, some she reckognized but most she never saw before.  
  
"What have you done now, you little virus?"  
  
Seeing how she had very little options at her disposal, she did the   
only thing she could think of.  
  
She jumped in.  
  
* * *  
  
"Mommy! I found you at last!" said Chibi-Usa as she hugged Queen   
NeoSerenity.  
  
"Why did you come back so soon, my darling? Do you not realize we   
are still in danger from the dark forces?" said the queen.  
  
"But Rubeus is dead! We beat him good!"  
  
"Rubeus was just a lackey, the wiseman still lives and so does the   
threat to me and your   
father."  
  
"I didn`t know, mommy... I guess I`ll go back, but I promise I`ll   
return soon!" said Chibi-Usa.  
  
A shadow materialized in front of them and took the form of a tall,   
seemingly ageless woman with long black hair. Sailor Pluto had   
arrived.  
  
"Pu! You`re here to help me go back!" said the little girl, happy to   
see her friend.  
  
"I`m afraid that some strange force mixed with my powers has rendered   
me unable to send you back... or to keep the flow of time harmonious,   
for that matter." she said in a concerned voice.  
  
"What can we do?" asked the queen.  
  
"We can do nothing. It is up to young Tsukino Usagi to find the   
women warriors spread over the unlimited possibilities of spacetime.   
Only she can stop the darkness from spreading further." explained   
Sailor Pluto.  
  
* * *  
  
The strange kaleidoscope of colours and sounds finally stopped   
spinning around Usagi and dropped her in some unmarked street in an   
unknown place, six feet in the air. When she touched the ground,   
she hit her head pretty hard on the concrete sidewalk. She managed   
to open her eyes, but closed them right away, unable to stay awake.   
For that brief instant, she saw a pair of huge manlike machines   
coming her way.  
  
"This is gonna be one of those days..." she barely had time to   
mumble before she went unconscious.  
  
The automated Yttrium-six units noticed the human lifeform lying   
unconscious on the sidewalk, blood trickling from a wound to her   
head.  
  
HUMAN FEMALE AGE AROUND SIXTEEN  
CURRENT STATE: LIGHTLY WOUNDED  
PERFORM RETINAL SCAN  
  
The first unit opened what looked like an electronic eye and scanned   
Usagi`s left retina.  
  
NAME: TSUKINO USAGI  
STATUS: NEW TOKYO CITIZEN  
REPORT TO DISTRICT HOSPITAL FOUR  
  
They delicately picked her up and left in direction of the nearest   
medical facility to help her recover from her acident.  
  
* * *  
  
Endless worlds mean infinite possibilities and a hundred million   
stories to be told.  
  
One of these takes place in a very familiar setting as the vicious   
leader of the dark kingdom, Queen Beryl, scolds one of her generals   
for his repeated failures.  
  
She sat immobile on her throne, a physical incarnation of the great   
dark force Queen Metalia looming over her head and spreading terror   
among those who saw it. Truth be told, it scared Beryl herself more   
than any of her minions as she knew the full extent of Metalia`s   
evil. However, she would never let it show in order to add Metalia`s   
fearsome aura of power to her own.  
  
"Nephryte, you brought great amounts of delicious human energy for   
our conquest of this universe... it is rather unfortunate that you   
weren`t able to defeat those wretched scouts at the same time." she   
said coldly, waving her hands around her glowing crystal ball.  
  
"Next time, they will not survive, I vow it!" he replied.  
  
"I am also very disappointed in your less than successful attempts   
to retrieve the silver crystal. We need it absolutely to complete   
our plan, as you know." added Beryl.  
  
"Yes, I am searching very hard, but it seems that the crystal is   
nowhere to be found! "  
  
"You`d better find it soon- or you`ll be joining Jedite in   
darkness to share his disgrace."  
  
"Yes my queen." said Nephryte before vanishing from Beryl`s throne   
room.  
  
A moment later, Zoisite made his entrance and elegantly saluted   
his leader.  
  
"Greetings, my queen, you called upon me?" asked Zoisite.  
  
"Indeed. I begin to wonder if Nephryte is placing his loyalties   
elsewhere than in our quest to release Queen Metalia... he might be   
going soft like Jedite did. I`d like you to keep an eye on him from   
a distance and report to me anything that might suggest he`s unfit   
for his mission."  
  
"And if he turns on you, what am I to do?"  
  
"Should Nephryte betray the trust I placed in him... DESTROY HIM!!!"  
  
"Yes majesty." said Zoisite, repressing a smile. He vanished in a   
cloud of pink flower petals.  
  
(author`s note: to those of you who aren`t aware of it, the original   
Sailor Moon serie casted Zoisite as a MAN. Yes, he and Kunzite are   
homosexuals. In dubbing the serie into english, DIC recast him as a   
woman wich wasn`t very hard since he looks so feminine... in my   
fanfics, however, I corrected this and kept him as a man.)  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi woke up with the sound of a jackhammer concerto in her head to   
realize she was in a doctor`s office of some kind. She was lying down   
on an examination table and was surrounded by anatomical charts and   
supplies as well as various tools wich could be used to prod just   
about any part of her body (she didn`t care to know wich ones).  
  
She REALLY needed some aspirin right now.  
  
Ami entered the office- she was wearing a doctor`s hospital coat   
and some blue glasses that reminded Usagi of Sailor Mercury`s   
hi-tech lens that came with her laptop. She also carried a clipboard   
with a medical file reading Usagi`s name.  
  
"That`s a nasty bump you have behind your head. Fell down again, did   
you?" asked Ami.  
  
"Yeah, guess so. What were those things that picked me up?"  
  
"The Yttrium-six sentinels, they`re a New Tokyo sentry prototype that   
went online last week in sector D where you fell down on your noggin;   
so far people like them very much and they respond well to my   
expectations. It`s really nice to see them work out, considering   
I made them in my spare time." explained the doctor.  
  
"YOU made them?" said Usagi, amazed at her friend`s technological   
prowess.  
  
"Yes. By the way, I got your test results today."  
  
"Test results?"  
  
"That fertility analysis you asked me to run on you and your husband   
last month, remember? Neither you or Mamoru have any kind of   
physiological disorder and your genetic compatibilty profile checks   
up nice, so just give it some time and you`ll be pregnant for sure   
when the time is right!"  
  
"What do you mean by that? WHAT YEAR IS THIS ANYWAY?" screamed the   
confused Usagi.  
  
"The year? It`s 2309, of course; it only changes once a year, you   
know. Usagi, I understand your frustration; you and Mamoru still   
don`t have any children after over 300 years of marriage, but you   
shouldn`t worry, it`ll happen someday!"  
  
"Ami, I`m not married to Mamoru yet- how can I say this? I traveled   
in time and landed here by accident, wherever here is."  
  
"Then that would explain your old style clothes... that sort of thing   
happened a lot to us back then, didn`t it? Now that I think about   
it, I might have told you a bit too much about your future, haven`t   
I? Or maybe not, you could be from an alternate timeline... how DID   
you get here in the first place?" Ami asked.  
  
"I`m not sure, really, I jumped in some kind of hole in time after   
discovering I wasn`t in the universe where I really belong."  
  
"How can you be sure you didn`t belong there?"  
  
"Naru never got attacked by any monsters and I was the top student   
of my class."  
  
"Oh."  
  
* * *  
  
Nephryte brought his red Ferrari to a stop and entered a small   
cottage located in a part of the woods that, for some reason, was   
perpetually shrouded in deep fog. Upon entering, the small amount   
of daylight that managed to enter the dark room was snuffed away by   
the awesome presence of the dark kingdom warrior. A scale map of   
the entire galaxy formed and filled the entire house, showing   
Nephryte the movements of the stars and the fluctuations of cosmic   
powers in relation to the earth.  
  
"The stars know EVERYTHING..." he whispered. "Great powers of the   
stars, guide me in my quest and show me how to find the lost silver   
empirium crystal."  
  
An harmonic vibration began forming between several constellations   
and reflected an energy wave on Nephryte`s forehead, connecting him   
to the unseen knowledge of the almighty cosmos; through his newfound   
cosmic awareness, he witnessed an image of Usagi leaping inside the   
time rift created by Chibi-Usa.  
  
"Could this girl be the key to finding the crystal... did she hide   
it in ANOTHER UNIVERSE? Yes, that must be why the stars couldn`t   
locate it before!"  
  
From outside the window, a pair of glowing eyes observed carefully   
the images summoned by Nephryte through the power of the   
constellations. Zoisite knew he finally has an opportunity to prove   
himself to Beryl by bringing the crystal to his mistress.  
  
His plan was simple: wait until Nephryte got the crystal- then   
kill him.  
  
* * *  
  
Somewhere in the graveyard of Crystal Tokyo is the final resting   
place of a great man whose life shaped a planet and whose death   
brought sorrow to all of the city where he chose to live with his   
equally wise wife. Queen NeoSerenity stood in front of his white   
marble monument, looking sadly at the epitaph.  
  
Here lies Chiba Mamoru, known to all as Endymion.  
In this place sleeps for ever a king, husband and hero.  
  
This was the first time since the funeral that she managed to   
gather enough strenght to come here again. She was still grieving   
for the man who had become a part of her over the last thousand   
years. She would have liked to tell him how much she missed him,   
but the words were trapped in her throat, unable to cross her lips.   
She simply shed a few tears, wondering why fate would have decided   
to crash his shuttle one grey april morning.  
  
In the distance, someone watched over the queen; dressed all in   
black leather to match his dark hair, he carried the traditionnal   
weapon of royal bodyguards on his his belt, a heavy chain whip.   
Kuromizuno Ryusenshi had known the king very well over the past few   
years as the queen`s personal protector. He also knew how much he   
meant to her and felt broken up inside to see her suffer like this.   
He wanted to bring Endymion back to life so she could be happy again,   
but there was nothing for him to do except stand strong for her.  
  
The queen walked in his direction and whispered "let's go back to   
the castle". They left the silent resting place as rain started   
falling. Having reached the royal chambers, Ryusenshi said that she   
only needed to call for him if she required his services again.  
  
"Is there anything more I can do for you?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, there is." she said softly. She hugged him and rested her   
head on his muscular chest. "Don`t ever die." she said.  
  
Down the corridor, Kuromizuno Ami remained out of sight of both   
her son Ryusenshi and the queen, watching at the touching scene   
between the two. It looked like maybe the queen was beginning to   
have strong feelings for him since he`d been there for her though   
this ordeal. Her son shouldn`t be too hard to manipulate; she had   
done so for years and she could control the queen through him.  
  
Placing that bomb in the king`s shuttle was the best move she ever   
made.  
  
* * *  
  
Ami held up her old Sailor Mercury laptop in direction of Usagi;   
she believed she could learn more about this strange situation   
through her vast scientific knowledge. The laptop had gone through   
much over the years and was beginning to show signs of wear; the   
crisp blue casing had faded to a dull shade while the bright golden   
alchemical symbol of planet mercury was worn down to near   
invisibility.  
  
"You have all these incredible machines and still use that old   
thing?" asked Usagi, bored from the long process of data acquisition   
for the molecular harmonics comparison.  
  
"That old thing, as you call it, is my greatest tool. I upgraded   
it a hundred times over, now it`s more powerful than a seventh   
generation Cray artificial intelligence." she replied.  
  
"Oh... right." said Usagi who had no idea what a Cray computer was.  
  
A minute later, she had her answer.  
  
"It seems that some sort of distorsion is moving across the timelines   
of the multiverse, causing paradoxal errors in time and localised   
ruptures in space where spacetime is weakest. We`ll have to find the   
place where the ORIGINAL disruption took place and stop it from ever   
occuring at all." explained Ami.  
  
"I`m no genius myself, but... wouldn`t this be a paradox too? Using a   
time distorsion to prevent it from happening?" asked Usagi who was   
feeling her head spinning from this twisted logic.  
  
"Yes, and it`s our only hope of restoring the spacetime continuum.   
My computer can detect these flaws and I think I can come up with a   
way to open them into portals we can use."  
  
"You know, Ami, I`m really glad I bumped into you- what would the   
scouts do without you?"  
  
* * *  
  
Slowly drifting over Tokyo in stealth mode, Rubeus`s ship silently   
surveyed the city for signs of Chibi-Usa and the silver crystal-   
both were instrumental in the wiseman`s plan for destroying the   
sailor scouts of the future and taking over the world. Rubeus had   
just returned from a meeting with the wiseman and knew where the   
rabbit would pop up next; all he needed now was one of the sisters   
to get her for him. The four of them were out shopping -again-   
but one of them would be back soon. Sure enough, Catsy waltzed in   
with a bagfull of varied beauty products promising eternal youth to   
their user.  
  
Rubeus thought of the warning he received form the wiseman... I SEE   
DARK CLOUDS OVER CATSY, BE CAREFUL OF YOUR SERVANT AS HER ALLEGIANCE   
TO US MAY BE WAVERING. No, it wasn`t possible, Catsy was so   
hopelessly in love with him, she`d never do anything to risk losing   
the attention he covered her with.   
  
Time to use that foolish love to his advantage once again...  
  
"Hello, Catsy, I was waiting for you." he said, looking her straight in the eyes.  
  
"Oh... you were?" she said, happily surprised.  
  
"Of course, you`re my best warrior, I`m worried when you`re gone."   
he said, seeing love glowing in her eyes. It had always been so   
easy to manipulate the sisters through their emotions...  
  
"That`s so sweet of you!" she said. She`d hoped so long that one   
day he might say that he loved HER, now she was sure of it, he   
loved her!  
  
"I have a mission for you. The wiseman had a vision, he saw that   
the rabbit would be at the temple this afternoon; since you`re   
familiar with the place, I want you to go there and get her for   
me." said Rubeus.  
  
"Yes, I`ll get her for sure this time." she said, putting down her   
bag. She reached in and pulled out a small crystal bottle which she   
handed to Rubeus. "I bought you a gift; it`s a fragrance I found at   
the store, it reminded me of your strenght!"  
  
He looked at the bottle in his hand with open contempt. He crushed   
it in his fist; Catsy felt her heart squeeze as he did so.  
  
"I have no use for such ridiculous things." he snarled. He dropped   
the broken bottle shards on the floor, cologne dripping from his   
hand. "This is what the wiseman will do to us if we fail! Now go   
get the girl and don`t come back empty handed." said Rubeus with   
anger boiling on his twisted face.  
  
Catsy left through her transporting mirror, unsure whether Rubeus   
really did love her or not.  
  
"Now how am I going to get that stench out of my hand?" thought   
Rubeus to himself.  
  
A strange sound behind him interrupted his train of thought- one   
of the mirrors was glowing bright pink and twisting wildly like a   
sheet of paper in a hurricane. Before he had time to even begin   
assertaining the situation, the mirror collapsed on itself and   
created a powerful vortex that sucked the bewildered Rubeus   
screaming into a whirlpool of compressed time distorsions.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ami... are you SURE this gizmo is gonna work?" asked Usagi,   
concerned that the small remote control improvised by Ami didn`t   
look at all like a time machine.   
  
"Although I`ve never built a time dilatator before, I`m pretty sure   
it`s going to work just fine."  
  
She analysed the data from her computer and comfirmed the location   
of a spacetime flaw: right in front of the World War Four monument.   
They followed the signal there and proceeded to test their new   
device; after punching a few buttons on the time dilatator, it shot   
a thin laser beam that instantly hit an invisible obstacle. It   
formed a small vortex of quickly moving images similar to the one   
that brought Usagi to this world.  
  
"Shall we go in?" asked Ami.  
  
"We don`t have a choice, do we?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"No, it`s the only available option."  
  
"Well, here we go again!"  
  
They went in and the planar gate closed behind them.  
  
* * *  
  
A universe away, Nephryte had just reached Usagi`s house in search   
of the portal that took the bearer of the elusive silver crystal to   
another world. He appeared in what was Chibi-Usa`s room before the   
rift was formed and found what he came for.  
  
"It`s beautiful, all those sights, sounds and colors, dancing in   
unison..." he said.  
  
He looked at the small detector crystal he carried and noticed it   
was pointing straight to the shifting portal. He smiled.  
  
"I have you now, girl. You can`t escape from me."  
  
Nephryte followed Usagi in the discontinuous flow of time,   
determined to get the silver crystal.  
  
* * *  
  
"Is everybody ready to PARTY?!?" yelled Jedite in his microphone.  
  
"YEAAAAAAH!" screamed back the capacity crowd.  
  
"ALL RIGHT! LET`S GET STARTED!"  
  
He pushed a button of his CD player and flipped a few switches to   
turn on the special lighting on the dance floor. Club Crystal was   
once again getting a huge turnout for it was the hottest club in   
town; it has been for years, now.  
  
It might be hard to believe, but thirty years earlier Jedite opened   
this place with the sole intention of gathering energy in order to   
destroy Sailor Moon. He`d just broken out of his crystal prison   
where Beryl had trapped him for failing once too often to kill the   
sailor scouts; his only goal was to murder those he believed were   
responsible for his fate.  
  
That was before he met HER. He mistook her for Usagi with her long   
blonde hair and almost crushed her neck before realizing it wasn`t   
the girl was blaming for destroying his life. She had been so nice   
to him; no one had ever kind like this unless they had a hidden   
agenda to cover up. She had no idea he was the mortal enemy of her   
best friend and he didn`t know she was a sailor scout.  
  
Jedite and Sailor Venus fell in love.  
  
He came very close to succeeding in his plan to kill the scouts and   
Tuxedo Kamen- with all the accumulated energy from his customers,   
he would have easily crushed them all. Before the scouts came to   
confront him, however, he found that his love for Minako had given   
the strength to forgive Sailor Moon and let go of his anger. He even   
accepted that Minako was a scout herself.  
  
From that day he continued running his night club normally, earning   
an honest living and pursuing a relationship with the woman who   
taught him how to love.  
  
Tonight was very special indeed, for thirty years after he opened   
Club Crystal he was passing on the managing of the place to his   
daughter Hematite who had been a regular for five years now. Hematite   
loved to dance and was simply crazy about her mom and dad`s club.  
  
Minako came next to Jedite and kissed him softly.  
  
"Our sweet Hematite is twenty years old today, where has the time   
gone?" he asked to Minako.  
  
"It`s hard to say... look at her, she`s having so much fun!" she   
replied; their voices were barely audible over the blaring rock   
music.  
  
At the center of the dance floor, Aino Hematite was dancing up a   
storm, her long blonde ponytail following the wild rythm imposed   
by her athletic body. She had inherited of both her father`s great   
strength and her mother`s delicate beauty. Her eyes closed and   
hypnotized by the music, she swayed to the smooth flow and enjoyed   
every moment to the fullest extent.  
  
Bright lights flashed all around her in all colours of the spectrum;   
she didn`t notice that the colour pink became more and more intense   
in her surroundings alone. She was not immediately aware that the   
increasingly warped structure of reality had taken her away from   
the world she knew and left her stranded in some strange outworld...  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru entered his appartment, hoping to see another love letter from   
Usagi slipped under his door. Not tonight, however.  
  
He felt terrible from having to lie about his true feelings to the   
only woman he ever loved- to the woman he was destined to be with.   
What could he do about it? Those visions and nightmares left no   
uncertainty: if he did not take his distance, she would die.  
  
He dropped down in the hallway and sat there, crying silently in an   
unspoken plea to the fate that so unfairly tore them apart.  
  
Around him, the walls disappeared to make place to the futuristic   
outlines of Crystal Tokyo.  
  
"NO! NOT AGAIN, I CAN`T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!" he screamed in despair.  
  
This time was different, though. No gloomy voices telling him of   
impending doom, no terrible explosions ripping the city to shreds.  
  
No cries for help from Usagi.  
  
Suddenly, this peaceful utopia revealed its beauty to Mamoru who   
noticed it for the first time. He walked down the streets and felt   
home. At the center of the crystaline metropolis, he met her. The   
queen of all the reincarnated moon souls, NeoSerenity.  
  
"Greetings, my love." she said.  
  
* * *  
  
"Any idea where we are?" asked Ami.  
  
"Not really. I don`t skip across reality very often, you know."   
replied Usagi.  
  
Although there was no questions this was Tokyo, the exact time frame   
and historical context of this specific version of the japanese   
capital remained a little hazy; everywhere they looked, nothing but   
abandonned ruins, rusting cars, grafiti, grafiti, grafiti and more   
grafiti still.  
  
"It looks a bit like the old Tokyo after the last world war before   
it was torn down, but there are too many intact structures and no   
destroyed armored vehicules anywhere. This one seems to have fallen   
in front of anarchy, pure and simple." explained Ami in flawless   
logical deduction.  
  
"Does it mean we walked in on a Mad Max movie or something?"  
  
"More or less."  
  
"Then I think we might be interested in leaving this place fast!"   
suggested Usagi.  
  
"You`re right, we better locate the next rift and make it a portal   
pronto." replied Ami.  
  
* * *  
  
Far away from the sun flew a derelict starship containing a lonely   
prisoner. Sole passenger of the Pegasus, Celeste had already spent   
the last four hundred years paying for her hideous crimes against   
the silver millenium. Stripped of her role and duties as Sailor   
Mars, she was now condemned to spend the rest of her life in   
solitude with no hope of escape.  
  
She often thought about her younger sister Rei who replaced her as   
Sailor Mars; Celeste owed her life to the pleas of mercy that   
convinced Technuma Saturn to give the disgraced scout a fair trial   
instead of killing her the instant he caught her. Then again,   
Celeste would love nothing more than to return and reclaim what   
Rei had taken from her; with no thrusters on the Pegasus, however,   
this was not to happen.  
  
This is why she waited through the centuries for death to one   
day come.  
  
Then, one day, a strange vortex of pink light formed inside her   
arboritum deck, inviting her to leave this dull existence for more   
welcoming planes of reality...  
  
* * *  
  
"I found it... it`s fourteen blocks down this street." said Ami.  
  
"FOURTEEN? We have to walk fourteen blocks?" whined Usagi.  
  
"We don`t have much of a choice... or have you packed a folding car   
under your jacket?" asked Ami with sarcasm.  
  
"Since when are you so mocking?"  
  
"After three centuries around Rei, you learn a thing or two."  
  
Usagi was actually able to reckognize a part of the deserted streets   
they were walking down; this was where some of her father`s family   
used to live... before the whole place went to hell, she supposed.  
  
"Hey, gorgeous, where are you going like that?" said a voice coming   
from a half-destroyed wall.  
  
Usagi was afraid of something like this, she had seen a lot of movies   
where the lonely detective woman gets cornered by the evil gang of   
thugs. And a large gang they were: over two dozens bandits leapt out   
of empty buildings armed with knives and steel bars.  
  
"This doesn`t look good!" whispered Usagi to Ami.  
  
At this point, the lonely detective woman would usually punch some   
sense into the thugs, but they were never armes with knives in those   
movies... come to think of it, there was never more than five or six   
of them at a time!  
  
"Well, it`s nice to meet some good looking women around these   
parts... you two are a nice change from that whacko priestess   
downtown. Now THERE`s a girl who could use some taming!" said   
the one who looked like the leader.  
  
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A WHACKO, JARVIS?" said a voice coming from   
nowhere.  
  
"Oh no, it`s her, she`s here!" said Jarvis with obvious fear,   
already regretting his choice of words.  
  
"FIRE... SOUL!!!" she screamed as a dozen fireballs fell from the   
sky to ignite the clothes of the entire thug gang, leaving Usagi   
and Ami unscathed.  
  
The thugs couldn`t flee fast enough to their own liking.  
  
From the shadows came out Rei, dressed in traditionnal garbs that   
must have been repaired and resewn a hundred times. Time had been   
harsh on this particular Sailor Mars.  
  
"Ami, Usagi... I thought you both swore never to set foot again in   
this hellhole... did you come to fight the great chaos as I am?"   
she asked.  
  
"Yes, in a way." said Usagi.  
  
"For some reason, the spacetime continuum is unravelling fast- we   
came from alternate realities to track down the origin of this   
phenomenon and we`re trying to put an end to it." said Ami.  
  
"Since this is going to be tough, would you help us? We`ll be   
travelling through strange worlds and we need all the help we can   
get!" added Usagi.  
  
"How can I follow you to other worlds when I can`t even make sense   
of this one?" said Rei as she pointed out the random destruction all   
around them.  
  
"I can hardly make sense of my own world as it is, we have to stop   
other worlds from barging in! Are you with us, Rei?" said Usagi.  
  
"Yeah, I`ll go. Could other realities really be as bad as my own?"  
  
* * *  
  
Ryusenshi enjoyed reading very much; it was a real passion to him,   
especially the ancient scriptures of the previous millenium   
regarding the rise of the sailor scouts and their role in history.   
Strangely enough, most people didn`t believe in the existence of   
Sailor Moon until the end of the second millenium; the oldest   
records he`d found, some old Tokyo newspapers, recorded the scouts   
as "figments of an overactive imagination". Whoever wrote this   
garbage would be red in the face right now if he hadn`t been dead   
for a thousand years.  
  
Because the guards of the rose assumed the protection of the queen   
during the evening and night, Ryusenshi had a lot of time to spend   
lost in the epic story that was the rise to power of Queen   
NeoSerenity. He was reading another old tome in the privacy of his   
room when a knock at the door disturbed his concentration. Careful   
not to damage the fragile book, Ryusenshi put it down on his table.  
  
"Who`s there?" he asked.  
  
"It`s your mother, dear." said Ami through the door.  
  
"Come in."  
  
Kuromizuno Ami walked in, dressed in nothing but skin tight black   
leather. She always wore very conservative clothing; her short skirt,   
jacket and spiked heel boots were no exception as virtually no one   
wore these since the last century or so. Just like her son whom   
she trained in combat, she carried a chain whip on her belt.  
  
"How is the queen lately? Feeling better I hope?" she asked.  
  
"Much better, though she still needs a lot of moral support. It`s a   
good thing I was there for her, otherwise I don`t think she would   
have recovered from the king`s death." answered Ryusenshi.  
  
"So... she depends a LOT on you, does she?"  
  
"Yes, I suppose so..." replied Ryusenshi who was beginning to be   
suspicious of how this conversation was turning.  
  
"You know, my son, I`ve been thinking. It`s time to make a few   
changes around here. The queen has made some bad strategic decisions   
over the past years and it is my opinion that our military strength   
as a nation should be increased... to begin with." explained Ami.  
  
"And how do you plan to make her listen to your ideas? You certainly   
remember the answer you got the last time you made that suggestion!"   
argued the warrior who recently learned to despise his mother`s   
political views.  
  
"That`s where YOU come in. Keep in mind that I got you the position   
of royal bodyguard, you owe me."  
  
"Me? What do you want me to... NO! You want me to manipulate her?!   
In her fragile emotional state?!?"  
  
"That`s why it`ll be so easy for you to do what I never could."   
said Ami with a smile.  
  
"So that`s why you had me named royal bodyguard when father died-   
you took this opportunity to put me in a trust position in case   
something like this happened some day!"  
  
"It was never a question of IF but rather of WHEN. It`s really   
amazing what you can do with a little knowledge of explosive   
chemicals..."  
  
"You killed them both? You planned this FROM THE START?!?"  
  
"Yes, from your birth actually. I`m a patient woman you know, I`ve   
been waiting centuries for the right moment to strike."  
  
"I`m not letting you get away with this!" said Ryusenshi.  
  
"If you don`t cooperate with me, I`ll have you removed like your   
father and the king; face it, you don`t have a choice."  
  
"Wrong, a man ALWAYS has a choice. Since I`m apparently going to   
hell, I`m chosing to drag you along for the ride!" yelled the   
angry warrior who rushed out of the room at full speed to reach   
the queen`s chamber.  
  
He had to warn her of his mother`s fiendish plan.  
  
Calmly, Ami touched her brow and concentrated, directing the dark   
energies inhabiting her body towards her son to reveal the mark   
of his dark heritage.  
  
"MAJESTY! You have been deceived by one of your advisors!" screamed   
Ryusenshi as he entered the queen`s room. As he said so, he felt a   
slight tingle on his forehead, strange and unlike anything he could   
remember.  
  
The queen froze in terror as she saw him; he didn`t understand why   
until he caught a glimpse of his face in a mirror. His brow was now   
marked with a black upside-down crescent moon, the dark moon symbol.  
  
"How... how could this happen?" he mumbled in panic.  
  
"He`s right, majesty..." said Ami who entered the chamber with dead   
calm. "..and he just revealed himself to you!"  
  
"What have you done to me? ANSWER ME!!!" he screamed at his mother.   
All this screaming attracted the attention of the two guards posted   
at the chamber`s door who walked in and saw the symbol of the enemy   
on Ryusenshi`s face.  
  
"GUARDS! SEIZE THE TRAITOR!" yelled Ami.  
  
The two guards of the rose charged Ryusenshi but were no match for   
his greatly superior combat skills. In one well timed spin kick he   
projected them both out of the room which he immediately locked to   
keep out the soon to be arriving reinforcements. for all his   
training, he couldn`t fight off all the guards in the palace. He   
looked at the queen and saw in her eyes that she didn`t understand   
what was going on.  
  
"I`ll be back, my queen, I promise!" he said before running past Ami   
and leaping out the window into the night.  
  
Some guards posted in the garden below saw him and gave the alarm-   
every soldier in earshot followed in pursuit as the hunt began for   
the dragon soldier.  
  
"I`m terribly sorry about my son`s betrayal, majesty. I`m crushed   
just like you are." said Ami.  
  
"I don`t believe it, I REFUSE to believe it!" she said with tears in   
her eyes.  
  
"You saw the symbol on his face- he`s a turncoat, no doubt about   
it." Ami added with confidence.  
  
"You don`t look too sad about losing your son, do you my friend?"   
asked the queen; she lifted her hand and a soft glow surrounded   
Ami`s face. A dark moon symbol appeared on her forehead, identical   
to Ryusenshi`s. The dark Ami laughed about it.  
  
"Well, you found me out it seems. It is very unfortunate that you   
won`t be able to prove my son`s innocence from the treason charges   
he`ll be facing, seeing how he`ll also be looking at execution for   
the horrible murder he commited before fleeing the palace." Ami   
concluded, her smile twisting into an evil grin.  
  
"No! Ami, we used to fight evil together, I`m begging you to step   
off this dark path you walk on!"  
  
The evil woman picked up her whip and skillfully snatched the queen`s   
leg as she tried to reach for her crescent moon wand on her   
nightstand. Pulling with all her strength, Ami threw NeoSerenity to   
the ground where she landed flat on her back. Breathless and out of   
reach of the only weapon capable of defeating her enemy, the queen   
was helpless.  
  
"You know, Usagi, you always DID drag me down! Time to turn this   
boat around, now..." said Ami as she wrapped her chain whip around   
the queen`s neck...  
  
* * *  
  
"Where are we now? Why doesn`t it look anything like the world I   
know?" asked Usagi in an irritating voice.  
  
"No matter what universe you come from you always whine, don`t you?"   
commented Rei.  
  
"You`re so mean to me!" complained Usagi as she started to cry very   
loudly.  
  
"You always cry, too, it would seem." added Rei.  
  
The travelers had indeed landed in a very strange place; there was a   
town a short distance away identified by a signpost as Tokyo. Despite   
the signpost, the town looked more like a medieval village than the   
thriving metropolis the scouts had expected.  
  
"We`ll have to cross many realities before we can track down the point   
of origin of all this distorsion; some are weirder than others, I   
guess." said Ami.  
  
"Hey, what`s that cloud of dust coming from behind us? It sounds like   
a tornado or something." observed Usagi as she noticed the   
evergrowing noise coming from the horizon.  
  
"I`m not really sure, there aren`t any clouds and it`s too cool for   
a tornado, plus there isn`t any sand for a sandstorm..." said rei.  
  
A minute later, though, there was no more doubt about it.  
  
"It`s a looting raid!!!" she screamed.  
  
They ran in the opposite direction towards the village, but there was   
no real point in doing so since the bandits were going there anyway.  
  
"We can`t just run off like this, we must help the villagers!" said   
Ami, concerned for the local population.  
  
"Right!" said Usagi and Rei.  
  
Just as they were about to transform into the heroic sailor scouts,   
another noise of stampeding horses came from the other side: the   
protectors of the small town had arrived to meet the pillaging   
invaders.  
  
"BANZAI!!!" they all screamed at once, charging for the bandits.  
  
The mighty warriors clashed with the numerous bandits in a furious   
battle; even outnumbered ten to one they still ravaged their   
opponents as though they were ants under their boots. The scouts   
decided it would be best to leave from this battle site; caught   
between a rock and a hard place, they figured the village was safe   
from the attackers and leaving was their best option. One bandit   
managed to make his way to Usagi, however, and raised his sword   
in her direction.  
  
"Die, golden one!!!" he screamed, but his weapon never got a chance   
to touch Usagi. The bandit had been cut down by a well aimed arrow   
before he could strike.  
  
"Who shot that?" said Usagi in relief.  
  
"I did." said a tall samurai in heavy armor walking her way.  
  
Usagi couldn`t see the samurai`s face because of a mask, but the   
voice, though hard to recognize from the mask, sounded oddly   
familiar. As soon as the samurai saw Usagi, she dropped to her knees   
and bowed; Usagi had no idea what was going on.  
  
"Shogun Tsukino, you have returned at last!" said the samurai as she   
stood back up. "I would have taken my own life had I not so firmly   
believed you were still alive all those months; now I know for sure   
you were not killed by the dark lord Beryl. Let the name Kino Makoto   
be spoken again for I am ronin no more!" she said as she removed her   
helmet and mask to reveal herself as this world`s version of Sailor   
Jupiter.  
  
"This just keeps getting weirder by the minute..." thought Usagi.  
  
(author`s note: a ronin is a samurai without a master- usually an   
outcast if he chooses not to take his own life.)  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting by a magnificient fountain in the middle of an open courtyard   
of the crystal palace, Mamoru could hardly believe his eyes. Queen   
NeoSerenity was right there with him and so far no terrible warnings   
had come to tell him he should get away from Usagi. As a matter of   
fact, the queen looked exactly like Usagi would if she did not die as   
his visions foretold.  
  
"This is not one of your visions, Mamoru, all you see and hear is   
very real." she said.  
  
"How did I get here, then?" he asked, confused.  
  
"I`m not quite sure, but it is a phenomenon affecting the whole of   
reality. Sailor Moon is trying to put a stop to it as we speak." she   
said.  
  
"She would, I`m sure. She`s always risking her life for others."  
  
"You like that about her, don`t you?"  
  
"Yes... she`s the kind of person who does what it takes to help her   
friends- maybe some day she`ll understand I`m doing the same for   
her... for you." said Mamoru who began to find this conversation   
rather bizarre, as he was speaking about Usagi to a different Usagi   
who wasn`t the same person but would one day be identical... (is   
anyone else confused yet?)  
  
"By leaving her? I`m not sure I could ever get over that one. I loved  
you very much at her age and so did you as I remember." she said   
with a smile.  
  
"You don`t understand, I have nightmares each night in wich I see   
you die every time- with a warning. If I stay away from you, this   
won`t happen." he explained to the queen, trying to convince himself   
at the same time.  
  
"What would you rather believe, my dearest? Your heart or your   
nightmares? Your visions or your love?"  
  
"I just don`t want you... Usagi... to get hurt."  
  
"Just listen to your heart, it will tell you what to do. What DOES   
it tell you?" the queen asked.  
  
"It says that... that..."  
  
Mamoru gazed into her lovely blue eyes and found himself incapable   
of keeping up his lie anymore. His feelings for Usagi were stronger   
than ever and he had to expess them before he was consumed by his   
self-imposed torture.  
  
"...that I love her with all my heart, that I`ll be there for her no   
matter what tragedy strikes her." he said.  
  
"I know." said the queen. "You`ll also be there when my greatest   
moment of happiness arrives."  
  
She took his hand and gently placed it on her stomach. He felt a tiny   
spark of life coming from deep within her body.  
  
"Can you feel the presence of the child in my womb as I can? It`s the   
most beautiful thing in the world." she commented.  
  
"Am I...?" asked Mamoru.  
  
Queen NeoSerenity silently turned her eyes towards the horizon and   
Mamoru did the same. They saw a man dressed in a white tuxedo   
surrounded by the sailor scouts- that man was King Endymion.  
  
"Yes, my love, you are." whispered the queen.  
  
* * *  
  
The lights and music suddenly stopped around Hematite who wondered   
why that was- when her father got the party going, he rarely halted   
until it was time to close for the night. There wasn`t anyone around   
her. No customers, no Jedite, no Minako.  
  
Club Crystal actually looked as though it had been abandonned for   
months. Everywhere she looked she saw dust, holes, burn marks and   
shards of a shattered mirror ball. She liked to close her eyes when   
she danced, but how could THIS happen without her noticing it?!?  
  
"Father? Mother? ANYONE?!"  
  
She was shocked of realizing so many people vanished at once; where   
had they all gone off to? Still disoriented and very tired, she just   
left the club and went back home, lost in a haze. She hardly paid   
any attention to her surroundings or to the curious stares of people   
surprised by her strange clothes- she made it home on autopilot,   
one could say, trusting her subconscious mind to guide her back.   
  
Hematite arrived at the house her mother had lived in ever since she   
moved to Tokyo from England as a teenager. Minako had bought the   
house back from her parents when she got married and now lived there   
with her husband and daughter while her parents moved to a nice   
condominium a few blocks away. Having no keys with her, Hematite   
simply used the spare they always kept under the porch`s loose   
floorboard. The old key had been there for decades, first put there   
by Hematite`s grandparents some thirty five years earlier.  
  
"Mom, dad? Did you make it home already?" she asked.  
  
No answer.  
  
Still only half conscious of the world around her and totally unaware   
that she was in another reality altogehter, she went straight to her   
room, wich used to be Minako`s before she bought the house and moved   
to the master bedroom with Jedite. First remodeled into a nursery   
for the newborn Hematite, the room had been remodeled many times over   
to fit the girl`s age. In the dark, it vaguely ressembled Minako`s   
room as it was during the nineties.  
  
Hematite undressed and crawled in bed, thankful for a chance to rest   
at last. Before falling asleep, she saw Jedite`s portrait on the   
wall; through her semiconscious state, she still managed to   
recognize her mother`s artistic style.  
  
"I don`t remember that one, but it`s a beautiful portrait of dad."   
she mumbled.  
  
She smiled and closed her eyes.  
  
* * *  
  
The wiseman meditated as he did so often, leaving his mind open to   
the visions that would guide his attempt to take over the future by   
destroying the past. The images came to him but made no sense   
whatsoever. He saw the sailor scouts fighting against Rubeus even   
though he was dead; the scouts themselves were strangely dressed as   
though they were nothing more than caricatures of their true selves.   
He also saw Sailor Moon fighting dark kingdom warriors, Tuxedo Kamen   
facing off against prince Endymion, a warped version of Sailor   
Mercury facing off against an evil Sailor Mars and an explosion the   
size of wich had never been seen in this sector of space.  
  
"This is strange." he thought. " Could my senses be clouded somehow?   
Or are these events reflections of what might really happen? I must   
take no chances if my conquest is to be successful- I`ll send   
Esmeraude to investigate."  
  
He summoned her immediately, knowing it would take her a while to   
come. That woman had to be the deepest sleeper of the entire dark   
moon.  
  
"This does not bode well for us." he whispered to himself.  
  
* * *  
  
"Think, man, think! Where did you read about this?" thought the   
panicking Ryusenshi.  
  
He knew something was horribly wrong with his mother and one of the   
old scriptures in his room made a reference to a pair of time   
travelers dressed in black- whatever turned ami into such an evil   
woman must have happened that day. If he could go back in time, he   
could certainly stop it from ever happening, but he`d have to   
remember the exact date... then it came back to him! Yes, it could   
work. Crawling out of his hiding place, he set out to find Sailor   
Pluto, the guardian of time.  
  
At the same time, the news was spreading fast aout the tragic death   
of Queen NeoSerenity at the hands of her own bodyguard. No one could   
believe it, but his mother`s testimony combined with the chain marks   
on the queen`s necks were more than enough to convince everyone.  
  
"A crime of passion." explained Ami to the guards of the rose. "He   
was in love with her but she refused him... it must have driven him   
mad with pain. If only I had known the dark moon had corrupted him,   
I could have done something! I saw that symbol on his face for the   
first time tonight; he hid it well."  
  
Of course, she kept to herself the fact that he bore the symbol   
only because his mother had one wich she never showed to anyone.  
  
"What do you think his next move will be, advisor?" asked the royal   
guard captain.  
  
"I belive he`ll be trying to alter history to his liking, after all   
history was a passion of his. With his plans shattered, he`ll   
certainly try to reach Setsuna as a last ditch effort to succeed.   
I`ll have to capture him myself."  
  
* * *  
  
"I can`t believe we still haven`t found Usagi yet, we`ve been to all   
her usual hangouts, we`ve met all her friends and did we find her?   
No! And like that wasn`t enough, Luna calls us to say Chibi-Usa is   
missing too!" said a very tired Artemis to Minako.  
  
"She was feeling depressed over Mamoru yesterday, remember? Maybe   
that why she`s gone. For all we know he made up with her and the two   
of them are making out some place. That would explain why Mamoru   
wasn`t home when we went by earlier." suggested Minako.  
  
"That wouldn`t account for Chibi-Usa. Besides, if they did   
reconciliate, why didn`t Usagi use her communicator to tell us   
at the very instant it happened? It`s late, let`s go home. We`ll   
search again tomorrow." said the white cat.  
  
"You`re right, Artemis. I`m pretty beat myself, that can`t help us   
find them faster."  
  
Minako slipped her key in the brass lock and opened the front door.   
Her parents wouldn`t be home that night so she didn`t bother turning   
on the lights; the moonlight getting in throught the windows was   
more than sufficient to guide her to her bedroom; Artemis   
diseappeared to somedark corner to find a cool place to sleep,   
unappreciative that he was of the warm blankets on Minako`s bed.   
When you wear fur all year round, summer heat gets to you that way.  
  
As she entered her dark room, she took off her sweater and jeans,   
dropping them on the floor next to the bed. Keeping nothing but her   
undies, she slipped in under the covers unaware of the sleeping   
Hematite`s presence. When she felt the contact of warm skin to her   
own, Minako shrieked and jumped out of bed, searching frantically   
for the light switch. Hematite woke up and saw Minako standing   
there in the room, wearing her underwear and the bedsheet she held   
on to during her moment of fear.  
  
"Is that some kind of fashion statement?" mumbled Hematite.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?" screamed Minako.  
  
"Sleeping, until you woke me up."  
  
"I can see THAT, I meant in this house? Who are you?" asked the   
furious Minako.  
  
It suddenly occured to Hematite that the decorations in this room had   
a very nineties look- her own room was much more trendy than that   
tacky old style. Furthermore, Minako looked very young, younger than   
she did when she was at the club earleier in fact... and why didn`t   
her own mother recognize her?!? Minako and her friends often told   
Hematite stories of time travel, so she thought this might be it,   
even if she didn`t understand how it could have happened. She picked   
up a magazine on the nightstand- it was dated for some thirty years   
in the past.  
  
"I`m not sure you`d believe me..." said Hematite.  
  
"Try me!" snapped Minako.  
  
"Would you believe I`m your daughter from the future?"  
  
"Oh, are you really? And I`m supposed to swallow that?"  
  
"I know things about you I couldn`t know otherwise, like that scar in   
your hand- when Usagi tried to warn you how Jedite was evil, you   
were so angry at her that you squeezed a glass in your fist until   
you smashed it; then you screamed at her to leave your house at once.   
Of course, at the time, you had no idea you were in love with a dark   
kingdom warrior, you thought he was some kind of self-employed   
businessman named James..." explained Hematite.  
  
"That`s ... right." said Minako who began to feel her heart hurt   
again from these painful memories.  
  
"That`s a fantastic portrait you made of dad, by the way!" said   
Hematite, pointing to the painting on the wall. "No wonder you fell   
in love with him, he`s handsome. Hey, could I see him now? I always   
wanted to see if he REALLY had blonde hair before he turned silver!"   
she joked.  
  
Minako didn`t respond to her daughter`s request. Her old wounds had   
been reopened, as painful as the day she received them. She was too   
choked up to talk, so she cried the same way she did when Jedite   
died in her arms. She felt her heart bleeding once more and almost   
expected her right hand to do the same.  
  
Hematite realized that their love story did not end well in this   
universe.  
  
"Oh, mom, I`m so sorry, I had no idea!" she said as she hugged   
Minako to comfort her.  
  
* * *  
  
Under the cover of the dark night sky, Esmeraude flew around town   
looking for signs of "strange activity" as described by the wiseman-   
he`d also given her a statuette to exploit sources of dark energy   
if any such source was to be found.  
  
"I can`t believe he pulled me out of bed for this! I was having such   
a nice dream about those four bodybuilders... if that Sailor Moon   
is responsible for this, I`ll make her regret it, that`s for sure.   
Nobody messes with my beauty sleep!" she thought.  
  
She kept flying around for a while, hoping she`d find something   
worthwhile to do; she didn`t want this night to be a total waste.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ami? Makoto? Rei? Hello! Answer me if you can!" said Minako to   
her unresponsive communicator.  
  
"Why aren`t they answering?" asked Hematite as she got dressed in   
her twenties style clothes (two thousand twenties, to be exact).  
  
"I don`t know, but I don`t like it one bit."  
  
Minako looked at her daughter from the future and noticed she had,   
hanging on a silver necklace, a venus transformation pen identical   
to the one she used before Luna gave her the upgraded starpower pen.  
  
"You have venus power too?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a sailor scout   
just like you. You always told me that I could when I was old enough-   
you gave me the pen for my fourteenth birthday." explained Hematite.  
  
"You`re really something special, Hematite. If I ever have a daughter,   
I want her to be just like you."  
  
"Thanks, mom!"  
  
* * *  
  
Returning from yet another failed attempt to gain control of the   
empirium silver crystal, Kunzite was greeted with the mocking taunts   
of his number one rival.  
  
"Well, well, Kunzite, you failed once more to grab the silver crystal   
from that brat Sailor Moon. You`re pathetic, you know that?" said   
prince Endymion to his "ally".  
  
"I don`t see you coming up with any good plans of your own,   
Endymion!" snapped Kunzite.  
  
Kunzite knew that Queen Beryl grew more and more impatient with each   
passing day. He would have gotten that crystal already, but for some   
reason Endymion`s evil brainwash had not completely erased his   
feelings for Sailor Moon- he kept interfering every time she was in   
trouble. The prince of the earth claimed that he saved her life from   
Kunzite`s youmas because Beryl ordered that she be taken alive;   
Kunzite suspected it was something more profound than that.  
  
"Oh I`ll take the crystal, no doubt about it, just stay out of my   
way!" said Endymion. He turned around and faded into the shadows.  
  
"I`m not letting you get Beryl`s favor, you can count on that- you   
caused Zoisite`s death, I`ll see you dead for that, both you and   
your little girlfriend!" snarled Kunzite at the absent prince.  
  
* * *  
  
In the barrens plains of a forsaken desert, Usagi and her   
transdimensional friends walked along the edge of huge sand dunes   
in the general direction of what would be their next portal. Without   
Ami`s computer, they never would have made it this far in their   
search.  
  
"I can`t believe how hot this is!" complained Usagi.  
  
"Stop whining, will you? This is a desert, for crying out loud,   
it`s SUPPOSED to be hot. Besides, would you prefer we go back to   
the cold wastelands where we almost froze to death?" said Rei.  
  
"Be more respectful to Shogun Tsukino!" said Makoto to Rei.  
  
"Makoto, how many times do I have to tell you I`m neither a shogun   
or your master?" said Usagi.  
  
"Are you not Tsukino Usagi?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Do you not fight the forces of darkness and evil?"  
  
"Err, yeah..."  
  
"Then you are truly my master, Shogun Usagi, first daughter of house   
Tsukino." concluded Makoto with pride.  
  
"Oh boy, I don`t know how much more weirdness I can take." said Usagi   
before tripping into something hard and rolling down the dune. "HACK!   
HACK! SAND IN MY MOUTH!" she coughed as she climbed back up.  
  
"Usagi, did you see exactly WHAT it is that tripped you?" asked Ami.  
  
"No, why?"  
  
The girls were mortified to discover that the small bump at the top   
of the dune was really the half buried skull of a young woman long   
dead from the scorching desert heat. Judging from the unique hair   
style and tiara, this was undoubtably Sailor Moon`s corpse.  
  
"Let`s leave this world fast, it`s freaking me out!" said Usagi with   
a shiver down her spine.  
  
* * *  
  
Around midnight, a pink halo formed in an alley behind Minako`s   
house, immediately alerting both of the girls.   
  
"Something`s happening!" said Minako.  
  
"Let`s check it out!" added Hematite.  
  
Outside, a glowing time portal and Kuromizuno Ryusenshi stepped out,   
a headband covering his forehead. He knew he didn`t have much time   
to warn the scouts before his mother came in pursuit; she wasn`t   
going to let him live to tell his side of the story.  
  
Minako came in the alley and reckognized the warrior whom she had   
met some weeks before.  
  
"Ryusenshi, why are you here? I thought your timeline had been erased   
out of existence!" she said, her daughter arriving as she completed   
her sentence.  
  
"Mom, do you know that guy? Does he have a girlfriend already?"   
whispered Hematite who felt quite attracted to the handsome time   
traveler.  
  
"You... know me already? How is that possible, I won`t be born for a   
thousand years in a timeline not meant to happen at all!" said the   
baffled warrior.  
  
"Because we already met you and defeated your evil mother. For some   
reason, you`re repeating the same events all over again as though   
they hadn`t happened yet." said Minako.  
  
"Sailor Pluto did mention there were some strange time distorsions   
before she sent me here. Maybe something more dangerous than my mother   
following me here is going on." he theorized.  
  
"Say, until we can figure this out, would you like to catch a movie   
or something?" asked Hematite who then received her mother`s elbow   
in the ribs.  
  
"We`ve got problems, young lady, we don`t have time for romance right   
now." said Minako who couldn`t believe she`d actually said that.  
  
* * *  
  
Lost in a spinning whirlwind of unrelated events, unsequenced moments   
and mismatched places, Nephryte looked at his detector crystal,   
waiting for a sign. He quickly got it and entered one of the   
countless realities offered to him.  
  
"You can run but you can never hide from me, young girl. Your crystal   
shall be mine and so will your life!" said Nephtyre in a sinister   
voice.  
  
He was getting closer, he could almost feel the smooth silver crystal   
in his hands.  
  
* * *  
  
Chibi-Usa hugged her mother very tight; she was afraid that the   
universe could be destroyed because of her impatience to return to   
the future.  
  
"Darling, it`s not your fault, you only wanted to come back to me.   
I missed you very much too." tenderly said the queen to her   
daughter.  
  
"But what if Sailor Moon can`t help us? What then?" asked the   
cute pink-haired girl.  
  
"That will not happen, I promise you." said the queen.  
  
Sailor Pluto looked into the orb on her staff and seemed worried.  
  
"The situation is getting serious, majesty. If this keeps up, the   
omniverse will achieve a state of critical convergence very soon."   
said Setsuna.  
  
"I trust Sailor Moon, she can help us, save us all once again."   
said Queen NeoSerenity.  
  
* * *  
  
A second time portal opened in Tokyo a few hours after Ryusenshi   
returned to the old city of Tokyo. This time, a seductive huntress   
entered the ancient ancestor of Crystal Tokyo, ready to give chase   
to the only man capable of ruining her carefully constructed scheme.   
She looked back into the portal and promised to Sailor Pluto that   
she would capture her son and make him pay in blood for his horrible   
crime. With this, the pink portal closed. She was lying through her   
teeth, of course- she had killed the queen herself and framed   
Ryusenshi for the crime.  
  
"Morons, all of them. They`ll believe anything I`ll tell them." she   
thought.  
  
She looked around and noticed she had emerged into one of the many   
parks of the city; this one had a lake over wich she could see the   
sun rising into the sky. Ami remembered this place to be the exact   
spot where Chibi-Usa dropped in from the future when the wiseman   
chased her across time.  
  
A small pink vortex spontaneously formed close by, dropping off   
Rubeus from his cosmic roller coaster ride into the fresh morning   
air of the peaceful Tokyo park. She looked at him and immediately   
recognized the dark moon denizen she fought all those centuries ago;   
he was exactly as she remembered him.  
  
"Rubeus! It`s been a long time since I`ve seen you." said the   
dark Ami.  
  
"You! Are you responsible for this insult to the great Rubeus of the   
dark moon? Because if you are, I`ll make you pay!" he growled.  
  
"Get off your high horses, it was a freak accident. There`s an   
unusually strong distorsion field engulfing spacetime right now,   
things like that are no real surprise." she said.  
  
"Wait a minute, I know you... you`re that kid Sailor Mercury!"  
  
"I`m not a kid anymore, I`m over a thousand years old. Besides, I   
haven`t been Sailor Mercury in centuries, now. I`ve... changed."  
  
"How so?" asked the curious Rubeus.  
  
Ami revealed her dark moon symbol to Rubeus`s great surprise.  
  
"You`re one of us, now? I`m impressed! It looks fabulous on you,   
I must say. Not to mention you look much better without that stupid   
sailor suit."  
  
"You`re quite pleasing to the eyes yourself, with that fiery red   
mane of yours."  
  
"You know, Mercury, you`re much more beautiful than those foolish   
sisters I drag around."  
  
"Call me Ami. Besides, if you think I`ll fall for your emotional   
manipulation like they did, then you`re the foolish one." said Ami   
with a seductive smile.  
  
"Beautiful, clever AND deceitful too! A woman after my own heart."  
  
"You got that right! Let`s get to the point, Rubeus honey: I know   
you`re looking for the silver crystal, right? And that little RAT   
Chibi-Usa? Well I don`t need them- all I want is to find my traitor   
son Ryusenshi so I can silence him and five minutes alone with my   
past self to... shall we say, make her see things my way. What do   
you say we team up for the occasion?"  
  
"I never could say no to a sexy cold-blooded killer." said Rubeus,   
smiling.  
  
Ami got closer to Rubeus and placed her arms around his waist as he   
placed his hands on her shoulders; they moved their lips together   
and kissed passionately for what seemed an eternity to them both.   
For that brief moment, nothing around them mattered, only the raw   
energy surging through their lips had any importance.  
  
Suddenly, a small object fell out of the sky and hit Rubeus squarely   
on the head without hurting him. He saw the item on the ground-   
a red transformation pen adorned with the alchemical symbol of mars.   
  
"Where did this come from?" he thought as he looked up to the sky.   
Ami, however, was still entranced by the power of their long kiss   
and was hanging on to the moment, eyes closed, moving her lips   
forward to meet Rubeus`s once more.  
  
Yet another freak time vortex formed above the evil couple and,   
without any further warning, dropped Celeste right on their heads.   
She landed straight on Ami who fell down on her face while Rubeus   
caught the disgraced Sailor Mars in his arms out of reflex. The   
flaming red haired Celeste looked at the drop-dead handsome hunk   
and smiled.  
  
"Hello, good looking, thanks for catching me!" she said.  
  
Picking herself up from the dew covered grass, Ami felt a burning   
fit of jealousy coming up. She was beginning to see a recurring   
pattern in the way events unfolded in the universe and felt that she   
was the unwilling victim of a cosmic running gag that had once been   
aimed at Usagi.  
  
"Back off, Celeste, he`s mine!" she barked.  
  
"Not any more, girlfriend! Say, Mercury, you`ve sure changed your   
look over the past few centuries! About time, too." replied Celeste.  
  
"Look, why don`t you just go away and fry your Sailor Mars successor   
or something... that`s why you`re here, as I remember." said Ami,   
obviously irritated.  
  
Rubeus put Celeste down and remained silent, letting the girls   
settle this among themselves. He learned quickly from the sisters   
never to stand in the middle of an argument involving violent women.  
  
"Well, yeah, if I have to. All I want is to be Sailor Mars again, so   
I`ll give her a chance to stand down, you know. She WAS my sister   
in a previous life, after all, that`s gotta mean something."   
said Celeste.  
  
"I have news for you: she`ll refuse flat out without a second   
thought. You want the job back? Create your own opening by removing   
the competition."  
  
"That`s what I`ll do, then. Say, mind if I stick around you two   
lovebirds until we take care of this sailor scout business?" asked   
Celeste.  
  
"All right... but stay away from Rubeus, got it?"  
  
* * *  
  
A portal opened in downtown Tokyo from wich emerged Usagi and her   
three friends from various parts of the multiverse.  
  
Usagi knew instantly she was home at last. Ami thought the   
architecture of this era had tremendous historical value. Rei was   
happy to see a city that hadn`t been destroyed by three decades   
of civil war. Makoto saw cars and thought magic was involved.  
  
"We`re really close to the epicenter, I should be able to get a fix   
on the exact location any minute now. In the meantime, I can tell   
the general direction is... this way!" said Ami.  
  
"Hey, Ami, what do we do once we find the origin of these   
troubles?" asked Usagi.  
  
"I thought YOU knew how to take care of it!" replied Ami.  
  
"I never said anything like that!" said Usagi.  
  
"We`ll have to wing it, then." said Rei.  
  
"Master Tsukino, look! In that store display- huge crystals that   
show us images of faraway places!" said Makoto who had never seen   
television before.  
  
"There`s a lot of things you don`t know about this world,   
Makoto..." said Usagi.  
  
On the roof of an adjacent building, Esmeraude was watching them   
closely. The spacetime portal had grabbed her attention and she was   
now certain that these girls had something to do with the wiseman`s   
vision somehow. Even if they didn`t have any connection with the   
vision, they still came from another dimension and that in itself   
was worth a look; she decided to follow them for a while.  
  
Maybe her sleepless night hadn`t been a washout after all.  
  
* * *  
  
Prince Endymion stared at the night sky, all alone as usual. He   
found it easier to concentrate on his thoughts without Kunzite   
constantly putting him down or questionning his loyalty to Beryl.   
Why was such a powerful man so afraid of him? It couldn`t be simple   
fear of competition; the dark kingdom thrived from its generals   
backstabbing each other for Beryl`s favor.  
  
No, it had to be something else.  
  
Maybe there was a connection to the name that Sailor Moon insisted   
on calling him... what was it again? CHIBA MAMORU. It had a familiar   
sound, almost comforting to think about. Unfortunately, he didn`t   
have any more time to spend wondering on such things. The conquest   
of earth was all that mattered; the capture of Sailor Moon and her   
crystal was everything.  
  
At that very moment, he was somehow transported to another world   
without ever knowing why, but he didn`t care- Sailor Moon was right   
there in front of him!!!  
  
"Mamoru, how did you get here?!?" she asked, surprised.  
  
"Stop calling me that, I am Prince Endymion! Now hand over that   
crystal of yours..." he said as he unsheated his sword.  
  
* * *  
  
After a few minutes of walking into the world where she truly   
belonged, Usagi received a call on her communicator.  
  
"Hey, who could this be?" she wondered, thinking how she could   
possibly explain to Luna and the girls the presence of three   
extra scouts.  
  
Minako`s face appeared on the screen.  
  
"USAGI! Where have you been? We`ve been looking all over for you   
and now I can`t make contact with any of the other scouts, Mamoru   
or Chibi-Usa! Even the cats seem to be gone!" she said.  
  
"I did vanish for a while, I was stuck in another dimension where   
I met some... hum, friends." said Usagi.  
  
"You`ll never guess who came by my house last night and you wouldn`t   
believe it if I told you, so you better come over here pronto!"   
urged Minako before cutting contact.  
  
* * *  
  
"RYUSENSHI???" said Usagi in total disbelief. "Why are you here   
again?"  
  
"I never came here before.. the timelines seem to be seriously   
warped." said the warrior.  
  
"Warped, you say? They`re totally bent!" added Hematite.  
  
"And who might you be?" asked Usagi to the Minako look alike who   
was holding Ryusenshi by the waist.  
  
"I`m Aino Hematite, Minako`s my mom. Well, she WILL be, in an   
alternate timeline." she said, leaving the Jedite part out not to   
upset her mother again.  
  
Although Usagi was completely flipped by the presence of the two   
travelers from the future, Minako was even more baffled by the three   
alternate scouts, even with Ami`s explanations on divergent   
histories.  
  
"So, if events had been just a little different in this world, we`d   
be you and not us, right?" asked Minako.  
  
"Right!" said the three alternates.  
  
Ami got a signal on her computer; she figured out where the   
disturbance originated.  
  
"It`s in your house, Usagi- in Chibi-Usa`s room!" she said.  
  
"I can`t say I`m COMPLETELY shocked..." said Usagi. "So she`s   
responsible?"  
  
"Not necessarely, she could have just catalysed a phenomenon that   
was inevitable in the long run. I can see the epicenter is located   
in-between dimensions; Sailor Moon will have to use her crystal`s   
power to reach it and defuse it. I`ll have to charge it with the   
right type of energy to focus the time stream into a workable   
portal." said Ami.  
  
"Why not just use your gizmo?" asked Makoto, convinced that this   
Ami was every bit as great a magician as the first daughter of house   
Mizuno in her own world.  
  
"Because the spacetime is already too contrated upon itself to be   
wedged open like I did before. This time, it`ll take something extra   
to do it and your crystal`s the ticket. Can you show it to me now,   
Usagi?" asked Ami.  
  
"Sure." she replied.  
  
Spying in the distance, many pairs of evil eyes waited for just   
that moment when Usagi opened her locket to reveal the silver   
empirium crystal in all its splendor. Rubeus, Ami and Celeste felt   
this was the time to strike while Esmeraude decided she could use   
the power of that trinket herself.  
  
So began armageddon.  
  
The silver empirium crystal radiated light of all colours and shades   
as it charged itself with the energy of Ami`s time dilatator. It was   
a truly awesome sight that did not miss to attract the attention of   
Rubeus and Esmeraude who both strived to capture the precious   
artifact for their master.  
  
"Now what do I do?" asked Usagi.  
  
"You must enter the time vortex and put an end to the contraction   
of spacetime at the heart of its epicenter. It will be dangerous,   
though." explained Ami.  
  
"No sweat, I kicked some evil butt plenty of times before!" boasted   
Usagi, full of self-confidence.  
  
Of course, none of the sailor scouts had any idea that they were   
being watched from a distance by several of their enemies.  
  
"What are they talking about over there?" asked Celeste who wished   
she could read lips right now.  
  
"Does it matter? She`s about to leave to another plane of reality   
with the crystal! We must intervene now!" said Rubeus who leapt out   
of their hiding place into the open air where he floated unnaturally.  
  
"Men. They`re all alike deep down inside." commented the dark Ami   
with resignation.  
  
"Welcome, everyone, to your glorious deaths! I have come for that   
silver crystal and I`m not leaving without it!" said Rubeus, issuing   
his challenge to the girls and Ryusenshi.  
  
"Rubeus? Aren`t you dead?" asked Usagi.  
  
Esmeraude wondered the same thing as she abandonned him to die on   
his crashing spaceship.  
  
"No, I`m not, but you will soon be if you don`t give me that silver   
crystal!"  
  
"We`ll see about that... MOON CRYSTAL POWER... MAKEUP! " said Usagi   
as she transformed into the champion of love and justice. "I am the   
pretty soldier Sailor Moon and in the name of the moon I will   
punish you... again!"  
  
Her friends followed her example and each did the same in their own   
unique way.  
  
"MERCURIUM TECHPOWER ARMOR! " said Ami. She was covered in   
self-assembling metallic components that merged into an ocean blue   
battlesuit complete with a wide array of high-tech weapons. Dressed   
like that, she seemed to come right out of a futuristic anime video.  
  
"JUPITER POWERSWORD STRENGHT! " said Makoto. Her twin katanas and   
armor glowed with the intense green halo of the raw energy that   
infused her body and soul with all the power she needed to destroy   
all who dared stand against the leader of clan Jupiter, first   
daughter of house Kino.  
  
" MARS POWER... MAKEUP!" said Rei. Of all the variant scouts, she   
looked the most like her equivalent in this universe with only   
slight alterations to her uniform. Could this remarkable similarity   
hide some major difference in disguise? That`s an ace rei kept up   
her sleeve.  
  
"VENUS STAR POWER... MAKEUP!" said Minako. As the only scout   
originating from this universe along with Usagi, she transformed   
into her scout persona with great pride, determined to show to the   
others the true strenght of this reality`s sailor scouts.  
  
"VENUS POWER... MAKEUP!" said Hematite. Following proudly her   
mother`s lead, she quickly changed into the mighty Sailor Venus   
as well. Fighting alongside her mom was a real thrill to her.  
  
Ryusenshi drew his chain whip, ready to strike swiftly as a cobra,   
and just as dangerous.  
  
"Seven against one isn`t really fair, now, is it? Let`s even things   
out! Come on out, girls, join the party!" invited Rubeus.  
  
Kuromizuno Ami jumped out of hiding with her whip slashing towards   
the scouts; the blow narrowly missed Minako who fell back from the   
shockwaves created from the chain coming in contact with the   
concrete sidewalk. Celeste joined in the fight as well, sending   
several fireballs that fried a few hairs of Sailor Mars and Jupiter.  
  
Responding without hesitation, Ryusenshi lunged at the dark Ami   
while the scouts divided in two groups to face Rubeus and Celeste   
at once.  
  
Still out of range from the fighting, Esmeraude thought this   
situation had potential. She pulled a small vial from her pocket   
and uncorked it. A thick dark blue liquid that looked alive oozed   
out.  
  
"Droid Hydranor, go over there and fight the scouts along with   
Rubeus and his allies. When they triumph, kill them too." she   
explained.  
  
"Yes, mistress." said Hydranor with great difficulty. Speaking was   
not his strong suit as he had been created for combat exclusively.  
  
Explosions wracked the street as one high power attack followed the   
other, coming from both sides at once.  
  
"JUPITER THUNDERBLADE..." screamed Makoto as her swords charged   
with an incredibly powerful burst of power. "... SHOCKER!!!"  
  
She jumped in the air and landed swords first. The blades sunk deep   
in the ground and released all the energy in a spontaneous   
earthquake that took everyone by surprise, knocking them down like   
bowling pins. Being the only one in the air at the time, Rubeus   
wasn`t affected and responded immediately by spraying Jupiter with   
dozens of small fireballs, all of wich struck her armor and detonated   
on impact.  
  
She was killed instantly.  
  
Getting back up as this happened, the scouts were helpless to save   
Jupiter`s life; seeing how they were all distracted, Celeste   
realized this was her opening. She decided to use her own special   
surprise on Sailor Mars.  
  
"MARS INFERNAL..."  
  
A circle of flames formed around Rei`s feet, warning her of impending   
doom.  
  
"... FIRESTORM BLAZE!!!"  
  
Being from the future, Rei had already lived through this attack move   
once and barely survived. She did not care to repeat the experience   
and leapt out of the circle a splitsecond before a scorching pillar   
of fire arose where she stood.  
  
"Not twice in one lifetime, sister!" said Rei. "BURNING MANDALA!"   
she yelled, sending searing rings of heat to cut down this evil   
Sailor Mars facsimile.  
  
"Sailor Moon!" screamed Mercury between to shots of her arm cannon.   
"You have to go to your house and find the source of the time   
distorsion; it`s getting too strong, it could rip reality apart   
and destroy everything!" she said, trying to get herself heard   
despite the terrible explosions that were turning the neighborhood   
into a warzone.  
  
"But what about you? You need me here to fight!" she argued, getting   
ready to throw her tiara at Rubeus.  
  
"If the multiverse collapses, we all lose, so go! Go! NOW!!!"  
  
Usagi reluctantly started running towards her house. Just before   
getting out of sight, she turned back a moment. She then ran home   
even faster.  
  
* * *  
  
Nephryte took a quick gaze at the battle ravaging the Tokyo street   
and rejected it as trivial. He knew that the real prize laid   
somewhere else and went on his way to find it, leaving the furious   
combat to follow its course.  
  
* * *  
  
Adrenaline pumping wildly through his veins, Ryusenshi fought the   
dark Ami one on one, with no outside interference whatsoever from   
his allies or his enemies- just the way he liked it.  
  
"You`ve done a lot of evil, mother!" he said as he lunged in her   
direction.  
  
"Means to an end, I assure you." she replied, dodging the heavy   
chain whip slash.  
  
"I`ll make sure that the queen punishes you for every act of treason   
and murder you`ve commited!" he told her, standing ready to avoid   
whatever counterattack she might be planning.  
  
"Too late for that- she`s already dead." she said simply instead   
of swinging her whip.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"That`s right, dead. The beauty part is that they think YOU did it   
since she has marks on her neck that match your whip!" she said, a   
wicked grin on her face.  
  
"MONSTER!!!" he screamed in anger and pain.  
  
"It`s a good thing I silenced her when I did, `cause she didn`t   
believe you were a traitor. When I crushed her throat with my whip,   
I could even read your name on her lips. She called out for you,   
but I made sure nobody heard!" she added with vile pleasure.  
  
Ryusenshi`s feelings for Queen NeoSerenity were powerful, more than   
anyone suspected; to hear of her savage murder drove him over the   
edge in an instant. "RAIN DRAGON FURY!!!" he yelled, unleashing   
without any restraint his strongest and most destructive attack.  
  
The raging whirlwind caught everyone by storm and injured them more   
or less seriously depending on just how close they were; standing   
right in the middle of this energy vortex, the evil Ami did not   
survive the intense shock and died before she hit the ground. Her   
son joined her a moment later, drained of all his precious life   
force which he expended in his blood fury. For a few seconds, the   
street experienced a soothing silence as all the remaining warriors   
were knocked senseless by the dying energy storm.  
  
Sailor Mars was the first to get back on her feet; looking around,   
she tried to figure if any of her friends were in need of medical   
attention. Aside from the deceased Sailor Jupiter, they all looked   
fine. She then felt a hand grip her throat from the side; blood in   
her eyes had allowed the injured Rubeus to blindside her.  
  
"Where is Sailor Moon? I want her crystal! Tell me now or I`ll kill   
you right here!" he said, blood dripping from his bleeding nose.  
  
"You couldn`t catch her if you tried. You`re nothing, Rubeus." she   
said, spitting some of her own blood on his face.  
  
"You`ll regret doing that, sailor brat, but not for very long..."   
he said, beginning to tighten his grip around her neck.  
  
For some reason, however, he was incapable of crushing the life   
out of Sailor Mars; her neck was too hard to squeeze.  
  
"Let me show you WHY the bandit gangs fear me..." she whispered,   
her eyes flashing blood red. Her smile suddenly had more, bigger,   
sharper teeth (or fangs, as any biologist would call teeth of   
this size).  
  
The very feminine looking Sailor Mars began to change- her body   
structure turned into a rougher, more brutal, animalictic form. She   
grew in size, gaining a full two feet in height as her shoulders   
enlarged and her muscle mass tripled. Her skin covered itself with   
coal black fur and her face changed into a human-lupine hybrid.  
  
"This can`t be good..." thought Rubeus, feeling the werewolf`s warm   
breath on his face.  
  
"Now..." she said in a deep growling voice, "wich one of us is   
going to regret his actions?"  
  
She grabbed the terrified Rubeus and threw him twenty feet away   
like a ragdoll; brutally hitting a brick wall, his spine broke in   
several places. The hulking lyncantrope that was Sailor Mars turned   
around to notice that Ami was still out cold from the whirlwind and   
that both Sailor Venuses were struggling against some sort of   
blueberry jello monster.  
  
If Rei hadn`t been a sailor scout for so long, she might have been   
surprised by the droid`s viscous form.  
  
She wanted to help them fight, but she also noticed Esmeraude   
sneaking up near the battlefield. Although she never met the dark   
moon lady before, Rei was pretty sure she was trouble.  
  
"Hello, you big Sailor Mars you, I`d love to make a coat out of your   
hide!" said Esmeraude, laughing at how easy she`d have it to destroy   
the scouts who DID look very much like caricatures of themselves   
like the wiseman said.  
  
Fighting by herself Esmeraude and Celeste who was waking up from   
her whirlwind shock did not scare Rei, but then things got seriously   
out of hand as the outlines of seven warriors formed a few feet   
away from the scouts, Esmeraude and Hydranor. Sailor Mars   
immediately recognized THESE creatures as she fought them all   
before a very long time ago. The seven shadows of Queen Beryl were   
there and they looked very nasty as a team.  
  
Further away from the action, two girld observed the battle and   
thought that the situation looked very bleak for the scouts.  
  
"I believe they could use our help." said Sailor Neptune, taking   
Sailor Uranus`s hand in hers.  
  
"I agree, our quest will not be served by letting the scouts be   
defeated by these abominations." said Uranus.  
  
"Mind if I join in?" asked a third voice behind them. Sailor Jendra,   
dressed in a silver and white sailor uniform, walked up to the other   
two and pointed at the shadows. "The girls could use another fighter   
or three to defeat them."  
  
"Well let`s join in, then, shall we?" said Sailor Neptune.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi ran as fast as she possibly could and finally made it to her   
house. Just as she was about to enter the front gate, a silhouette   
formed from out of nowhere and turned into Prince Endymion.  
  
"Mamoru, how did you get here?" she asked.  
  
"Stop calling me that, I am Prince Endymion! Now hand me over that   
crystal of yours..." he said as he unsheated his sword.  
  
"Oh no, you`re under their control, aren`t you?" she asked.  
  
Endymion rose his weapon, ready to strike Sailor Moon.  
  
"GIVE IT TO ME NOW!" he said, boiling with anger.  
  
A red blur slashed his hand and the sword fell down. Standing atop a   
streetlight in the rising sun`s bright rays, Tuxedo Kamen had thrown   
his trademark red rose to stop his evil counterpart from hurting   
Usagi. "Stop where you are, Endymion, you don`t know what you`re   
doing." he said.  
  
"Oh yes I am, my destiny is to capture the silver empirium crystal   
for the glory of the dark kingdom and that`s just what I`ll do!"   
he said, reaching down to pick up his sword.  
  
Tuxedo Kamen jumped between him and Usagi, blocking with his cane   
a lethal blow that could have killed Sailor Moon.  
  
"Why are you opposing me?" asked Endymion. "You are myself!"  
  
"Why, you ask? For the same reason that you`ve interfered with   
Kunzite so many times, so he wouldn`t hurt Sailor Moon. For the   
reason I`ve come to her rescue ever since she started fighting   
evil... BECAUSE I LOVE HER!" he explained with passion.  
  
Usagi couldn`t believe her ears- Mamoru really DID love her! He   
actually said it!  
  
"I`ve seen the future and I won`t let you or anyone else take away   
the woman I love ever again!" said Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
"I can`t possibly love her, you`re lying!" snarled Endymion.  
  
"Look in your heart and you`ll see he tells the truth " softly   
whispered Sailor Moon.  
  
Prince Endymion closed his eyes, engaged in a raging battle with   
his own conflicting emotions. He dropped his sword and shed two   
tears; his healing had begun.  
  
"What am I doing? Why am I serving such a vile empire?" he asked,   
not expecting any answers. Suddenly, his whole life seemed like a   
huge lie.  
  
Sailor Moon opened her locket and revealed the moon crystal once   
again. "Moon crystal power... bring back the good man so hideously   
warped by Beryl`s magic!" she said. A soothing glow radiated from   
the crystal and purified Endymion of the dark force that held his   
soul captive. He gazed at Usagi`s pure blue eye and smiled before   
fainting.  
  
"The whole of existence needs your help right now, Sailor Moon, but   
I`ll be right here caring for my other self and waiting for your   
return. I want you to be a part of my future." said Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
"I love you Mamoru."  
  
"And I love you, Usagi."  
  
They kissed for a very long moment and Usagi entered the house. The   
end of this conflict was drawing near, but wether it would be good   
or bad remained to be seen. She went straight for Chibi-Usa`s room   
where she saw a time vortex that had the exact shape and size of   
Chibi-Usa as though she had run too fast and punched a hole through   
reality. It was too small to accomodate anyone else but a small child,   
so she used her crystal to increase its size. Ami had done a great   
job because Usagi had no difficulty to get the portal to form.  
  
Unfortunately for Usagi, the portal was also large enough to allow   
Nephryte to follow in a few minutes later.  
  
* * *  
  
Only one shadow warrior remained, the demon beast that had once been   
Rei`s grandfather. A dark tribute to the shadow warriors` evil, he   
was killing Sailor Uranus viciously by beating her over the head   
with the armored right arm it had ripped off Sailor Mercury.  
  
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!!!" screamed Sailor Jendra, a lethal beam   
of multicolored light shooting out of her hands to destroy the horrid   
beast. Laurella usually enjoyed very much being Sailor Jendra,   
though not today. Not only had she been taken away from her lover   
Kitechnum Jendra seconds before he was about to kiss her, the sailor   
scouts also seemed incapable of recognizing her for some reason-   
those who were still alive anyway. Only Sailor Neptune and the two   
Venuses remained with Minako weakening rapidly from a deep cut to   
her tigh.  
  
"Where the hell did all these monsters come from?!?" asked Minako to   
anyone who cared to listen.  
  
At the same moment, more reinforcements arrived on both sides: the   
dark moon sisters, the moonlight knight, Sailor Saturn, Mistress 9,   
the death busters, more alternate sailor scouts and several versions   
of Tuxedo Kamen that included a ninja warrior, a tiger-like jungle   
fighter, a knight in full battle armor, a samurai and a powerful   
wizard.  
  
"This makes no damn sense!" said Laurella before being stuck by a   
fire buster blast; her heart crystal popped out of her chest and   
she fell down as Eudial reached for the precious crystal. Sailor   
Neptune tried to recapture it for Sailor Jendra, but was quickly   
cut down by the swift slashes of Mistress 9`s razor sharp glaive.   
Both sailors died a few moments later and the battle raged on with   
more fighters joining in from hundreds of different realities.  
  
* * *  
  
At the same time, on a space station in orbit around one of the many   
moons of saturn, a different kind of battle was taking place. The   
Technum guardians were facing a problem greater than any other they   
had ever witnessed before, one wich they had hoped would never   
happen.  
  
The excessive number of sailor scouts and evil beings fighting an   
all-out war on earth was creating an immense drain on the normal   
Technum flux of the solar system; this catastrophic drain was   
compensated by the source of all power, the sun itself.  
  
Unfortunately, this kind of intense use was not meant to be and   
the health of the Prime was degrading quite rapidly- his death,   
should it occur, would mean destruction to the entire solar system.   
Technuma Saturn, assisted by Litechnae Venus and Technara Mars,   
was using the full extent of his medical knowledge to keep the   
Prime alive until the battle stopped. Only then would his health   
improve and apocalypse be avoided. Although Technuma Saturn had   
been created by the Prime to be the greatest doctor who ever   
lived, the strange physionomy of the alien being was just too   
complicated to be fully understood.  
  
He desperately fought a lost battle.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi floated for a few seconds in the swirling mass of nonsequential   
events just like the first time she jumped in, except this time she   
had her attuned crystal to guide her through. Her surroundings   
solidified and took the appearance of what looked like the throne   
room of a beautiful castle.  
  
"If I had a castle of my own, it would look like this one." she   
thought.  
  
"Sailor Moon, you came!" said Chibi-Usa who ran to her.  
  
"Where is this place, Chibi-Usa? How did you get here?" she asked.  
  
"This is my home in the future!" she answered. " I got here with the   
key Pu gave me, but everything`s been going haywire because of me..."  
  
"It`s not your fault, little one." said Sailor Pluto who arrived to   
meet Sailor Moon. "Some evil force is using using your return to   
manipulate time."  
  
"What can I do about it?" asked Usagi.  
  
"You alone can do nothing. You will need help from someone." said   
Setsuna.  
  
"You`ll be coming along, then?" asked Usagi.  
  
"No, not me... her." said Pluto, pointing to Chibi-Usa. "She holds   
great power in herself and she knows more about this situation than   
she realizes. Go forward, now, time grows short." she added,   
turning away and vanishing in the shadows.  
  
"Wait a minute! Can`t I at least meet the queen before I leave?"   
asked Usagi.  
  
"The queen had judged preferable for you not to see her now, but   
rest assured, you WILL meet her soon." said the fading voice of   
the guardian of time. Usagi was now alone with Chibi-Usa and   
the portal.  
  
"So it`s up to you and me, Sailor Moon!" said the pink-haired girl   
with great enthusiasm.  
  
"Oh, that`s just great." thought Usagi, dreading the idea.  
  
A powerful battle cry resounded from the portal and the charging   
Nephryte blasted out suddenly, violently hitting Sailor Moon in the   
jaw with his stone-like fist, sending her flying back into a marble   
wall; she landed brutally on the floor, blood seeping out of her   
mouth. Chibi-Usa screamed in terror, but the dark kingdom warrior   
paid no attention to her. He was there for the crystal.  
  
"Pretty clever, Sailor Moon, pretending to be searching for the   
crystal so we wouldn`t think you had it all along... we should have   
known you`d try something like this!" said Nephryte.  
  
Sailor Moon picked up her tiara with her shacking hand; a strong   
blast of dark energy knocked it down before she could throw it.   
Nephryte walked over to Sailor Moon slowly, assured of his victory.   
She was breathing hard, barely capable of moving, let alone defend   
the crystal. The evil man grabbed her locket and ripped it from her   
chest. Sailor Moon reverted back to Usagi in a flurry of magical   
ribbons.  
  
"You`re Naru`s best friend, aren`t you? That must be why my crystal   
reacted to her presence; she picked up residual energies from your   
presence. Naru apparently couldn`t hide them the way you did. It`s   
been nice to fight you, Sailor Moon, but now our conquest of the   
universe must resume. Beryl will reward me handsomely for..." said   
Nephryte, suddenly interrupting his gloating.  
  
A trickle of green blood began to flow from his mouth and his limp   
fingers let go of the locket wich dropped down with a metallic   
clatter. Nephryte fell down on his face and Usagi saw the sharp   
crystal shard imbedded between his shoulder blades.  
  
"Well, Nephryte, you didn`t think I`d let you hog all the glory,   
did you?" said Zoisite, moving out of the shadows into plain sight.  
  
"Zoi...site..here?" mumbled Usagi, barely recovering from Nephryte`s   
brutal attack. She desperately extended her arm to try and reach for   
her locket, only a few inches away from her grasping fingers.  
  
Simply by pointing at it, Zoisite made the locket fly to his hand.  
  
"Thank you for keeping this warm for me. I can`t believe a twit like   
you could defeat every one of our schemes for so long... but you   
never learn from your numerous mistakes so it was just a matter of   
time. Ciao!" he said.  
  
He turned to go back through the portal, but couldn`t. Since the   
crystal had left Usagi`s possession, the portal had shrunk back to   
its original Chibi-Usa shape, leaving Zoisite stranded.  
  
"Tell me how to open this gate again." ordered Zoisite to Usagi.  
  
"NEVER!" she said, trying to stand up.  
  
"ZOI! " said Zoisite, sending a blast of deadly flower petals to   
the struggling Usagi who fell down again, battered but unbowed.  
  
"You won`t beat this secret out of me, monster!" she said, tears   
coming from her eyes.  
  
"You`re right " said Zoisite. He pointed his hand at the terrified   
Chibi-Usa and smiled. "Perhaps SHE can help me, then?"  
  
"NO, DON`T! I`ll tell you, just don`t hurt her" replied Usagi.  
  
"Usagi, don`t tell him!" implored Chibi-Usa.  
  
"I have no choice..." said Usagi, resigned to the situation.  
  
"Damn right, you don`t! Now tell me!" snarled Zoisite.  
  
"First, open the locket to reveal the crystal." instructed Usagi.  
  
Zoisite did so and was amazed by the colored sparkles radiating from   
within the silver crystal.  
  
"Look at it intensely." explained Usagi. "Let the colours fill your   
mind, concentration is critical."  
  
"It`s making my eyes tired." complained Zoisite, incapable of   
removing his eyes from the wondrous crystal.  
  
"That`s normal the first few times, just concentrate on the crystal,   
don`t let any other thoughts cross your mind!"  
  
"Yes... concentrating... on the crystal..." said Zoisite whose voice   
was starting to sound like a zombie`s.  
  
"Let the sparkling rainbow of colours enter your mind, let it   
expand in all direction and take over your will!"  
  
"Yes.. the colours... the beautiful colours..." mumbled Zoisite.  
  
"Your eyelids are getting heavy, aren`t they?" asked Usagi with a   
smirk on her lips.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Then close them. You are sleeping, Zoisite, sleeping. Your willpower   
is nonexistent before mine, your mind is under my control!" said   
Usagi who now held Zoisite in a deep mesmeric trance. His face was   
devoid of expression.  
  
"So I`m a twit who can`t learn a thing, am I?" said Usagi with a   
vengence. "Give me the locket, now!" she ordered.  
  
Zoisite mindlessly gave her the locket wich contained the precious   
crystal; she transformed back to Sailor Moon and urged Chibi-Usa to   
follow her into the portal that she reopened easily.  
  
"Usagi, how did you do that?" asked Chibi-Usa, bewildered at the   
sight of the mindless Zoisite.  
  
"I read it in a book called HYPNOTISM FOR FUN AND PROFIT. Don`t   
look at me like that, I DO read a book once in a while aside from   
comics!"  
  
With this last comment, they both left the harmless dark kingdom   
warrior and his deceased comrade behind to go meet with their final   
challenge.  
  
* * *  
  
"Come on, don`t die on us like this!" begged Technuma Saturn to the   
dying Prime whose body was just about to give up. With the rate at   
which new fighters joined the earth battle from other worlds   
increasing exponentially, there was little more he could do than   
delay the inevitable. The Prime couldn`t take this kind of strain;   
one moment he was living, the next he was dead.  
  
Technuma stared sadly at Litechnae and Technara, tears flowing from   
his eyes.  
  
His failure to keep the Prime alive had sealed the fate of the solar   
system.  
  
* * *  
  
Back on earth, Minako fell down after more than an hour of non-stop   
fighting against the ever increasing hordes of monsters and villains   
flowing into Tokyo wich now looked like the remnants of a Godzilla   
family reunion. Despite the sheer number of victims, the bloody   
combats still raged on.  
  
Minako`s leg wound had drained away a lot of blood and she was   
feeling very weak; she knew she wouldn`t live very long. She looked   
at the corpse of her fallen daughter and shed a tear.  
  
"I`m coming soon, darling. I`ll be right over with you and your   
father in a few moments."  
  
She heard a ghastly noise coming from the sky as did everyone on   
earth. The combats stoped immediately as they all looked up to see   
the sun blackening and shrinking rapidly, plunging the world in   
near total darkness.  
  
"We`re all coming now..." whispered Minako in tears, realizing she   
was a witness to apocalypse.  
  
A raging solar shockwave of a magnitude never seen in this quadrant   
of space since the big bang erupted from the collapsing sun and   
plunged the entire solar system as well as a few nearby star systems   
in a bright, scorching inferno for a brief instant, wiping out all   
solid matter in an instant.  
  
Then darkness fell, permanently.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi and Chibi-Usa floated in the space in-between dimensions;   
this was not the chaotic spacetime vortex they had traveled   
through before, but rather a peaceful collection of infinite   
universes, each one miniature in size and sparkling from life   
within. This was the most beautiful sight they had ever witnessed.  
  
"Where are we, Usagi?" asked Chibi-Usa.  
  
"Everywhere at once, I think." said Usagi.  
  
YOU ARE RIGHT LITTLE USAGI YOU ARE EVERYWHERE AND EVERYWHEN  
  
"What was that?" asked Chibi-Usa.  
  
"I don`t know..." she replied.  
  
DON`T PRETEND YOU DON`T REMEMBER ME CAN`T YOU FEEL THE FORCE WITHIN   
ME SURELY YOU REMEMBER FEELING IT AS YOU BATTLED MY SERVANT BERYL  
  
"Queen Metalia?!?" said Usagi with surprise.  
  
Chibi-Usa had heard of the evil force that had destroyed the moon   
kingdom and killed her grandmother- she was scared like never   
before.  
  
A shapeless mass of pure darkness formed around them, oozing   
between the miniature worlds and greedily grabbing them.  
  
HE HE HE YOU DO REMEMBER MAYBE YOU REMEMBER THIS FACE AS WELL  
  
The shapeless body of the evil force used part of its surface to   
form into the face of Queen Beryl. Even though no sound came from   
her mouth, Usagi could read her lips; she was begging Sailor Moon   
to release her from her horrible fate.  
  
SHE FAILED ME SO SHE MUST PAY THE PRICE JUST AS YOU WILL FOR   
OPPOSING ME YOU AND YOUR PATHETIC FRIENDS THEY ARE ALREADY DEAD  
  
A tiny world floated in front of Usagi`s face; she immediately   
recognized it as her own. It glowed intensely for a few seconds   
and blackened into total darkness.  
  
"What have you done, you vile creature????" she screamed.  
  
WHAT I WILL DO TO ALL THE OTHER WORLDS LIKE THIS  
  
Another one of the worlds was destroyed in a similar fashion.   
Then another. And ten more, a hundred, a thousand. There seemed   
to be no limits to Metalia`s thirst for destruction and death.  
  
HA HA HA YOU CAN`T STOP ME YOU WILL JOIN BERYL AND THE OTHER   
LACKEYS WHO FAILED ME IN THEIR TORTURE FOR A THOUSAND MILLENIA   
AND I WILL RULE OVER THE ASHES OF THE OMNIVERSE HA HA HA  
  
"No, I will stop you with the power of love and this crystal   
given to me by my mother so I could destroy you once and for all!"   
bravely said the champion of love and justice.  
  
LET`S NOT BE HASTY MAYBE WE CAN WORK SOMETHING OUT  
  
"I don`t cut deals with evil, you should know that by now!"  
  
YOU LOVE TUXEDO KAMEN DON`T YOU I COULD UNITE YOU WITH HIM AGAIN  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
YES I CAN CREATE A SMALL WORLD WHERE THE TWO OF YOU CAN SPEND YOUR   
LIVES WITH NO MORE EVIL TO FIGHT NO MORE IMPOSSIBLE STRUGGLES TO BE   
TRAPPED IN  
  
"No more monsters..." whispered Usagi as the small pocket universe   
glithered in front of her, shining brightly as Metalia`s promise.   
She wanted to defeat this horrid creature but she also loved Mamoru   
so much...  
  
"Snap out of it, Sailor Moon!" said Chibi-Usa. "That thing is lying,   
it`s just trying to stop you from destroying it!"  
  
NO I WILL NOT LET YOU RUIN THIS LITTLE GIRL I`LL KILL YOU FIRST  
  
Several black tentacles surged from the shapeless mass and reached   
for Chibi-Usa. A bright glow from the crystal melted them away   
before they could reach the girl.  
  
"She`s right, your empty promises and your lies cannot stop us   
from doing what we were meant to do!" said Usagi. "Are you with   
me, munchkin?"  
  
"Yes, I am!" replied Chibi-Usa with pride.  
  
A golden moon crescent appeared on the forehead of both girls and a   
fantastic surge of golden light radiated from them both. They held   
their hands together, holding the radiant silver empirium crystal   
in the final battle against Metalia.  
  
"I love you, Usagi!"  
  
"And I love you, Chibi-Usa!"  
  
NO NO NO THIS CAN`T BE I CAN`T LOSE TO THESE PUNY HUMANS NOOOOOO  
  
The intense golden light born out of love rekindled life on every   
world decimated by Metalia`s evil and reinforced the barriers   
between alternate realities that had been forcefully removed   
by the evil force of darkness. Slowly, all returned to normal.  
  
AAAAAAAAAARRRGH  
  
Metalia had been destroyed forever.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi stared out of her bedroom window at the stary night, dreaming   
about her precious Mamoru. She had been very disappointed to find   
out that only Chibi-Usa and herself had retained any memory of the   
strange events that had taken place- since they had wiped clean   
these events BEFORE they had actually happened, they were now   
reliving the same day where Chibi-Usa had attempted to return to   
the future.  
  
The pink-haired girl entered the room, her luna ball hovering   
behind as usual. She was concerned about Usagi being depressed   
once again.  
  
"How are you feeling now, meatball head?"  
  
"A bit sad. It`s a shame we went through all this and that Mamoru   
doesn`t remember saying he loves me... I guess he won`t be coming   
back to me right away "  
  
She looked at Chibi-Usa and had a brilliant flash.  
  
"Say, since this is the same day all over again, this means there`s   
still a bucket of double chocolate ice cream in the fridge!" said   
Usagi with that hungry look in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, let`s go eat!" said the little girl who disappeared down the   
stairs.  
  
Usagi left her room, but just before she went down to the kitchen   
she heard a noise coming from her room. She rushed back to see a   
shadow leaping out of the open window into the night; a blooming   
red rose was waiting for her on her bed.  
  
Although Mamoru didn`t remember visiting the future, he still had   
a vague impression that he and Usagi were destined to be together   
no matter what his visions said.  
  
He was determined to find a way to return to his one true love.  
  
  
The End  



	6. Ignorance Is Bliss

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
In the early days of television, many were the writers whose noble   
attempts at instilling human values in their viewers through the   
open use of moral dilemmas and social issues who were hideously   
crushed under the boots of heavy censorship.  
  
One of these playwriters, Rod Serling, was repeatedly censored and   
he eventually gave up writing dramatic material to place all his   
creative energies in a new science fiction/fantasy series he called   
"The Twilight Zone".   
  
"I`m not going to tackle social issues anymore." he said in an   
interview.  
  
Few people realized it, but his Twilight Zone tackled even more   
social issues than his other shows ever did. Racism, political   
fanatism, greed and hate, the list goes on. By labeling it as   
fiction, no one saw the difference, especially not the network   
censors. His legacy lives on in many of today`s television shows   
that go beyond simple entertainment and try hard every day to   
make us think about what we consider to be right and moral.  
  
This chapter of my Cycle of Life is the first one in which I   
purposefully try to get you to rethink about aspects of modern life   
that we try not to think about, either by ignorance, lack of   
information or discomfort with the issue.  
  
  
This is a DARK story, one wich tackles a few subjects we have to   
face if we want this world to be a better one.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE SIX  
  
IGNORANCE IS BLISS  
  
  
  
Speeding down the boulevard, a bright red motorcycle carried its   
two passengers along the busy streets, piercing through traffic   
like a hot knife through butter. Dressed all in black, the pilot   
looked like a shadow, unlike his charming girlfriend whose two   
blonde ponytails stuck out from under a pink helmet to match her   
more colorful clothes.  
  
Mamoru was bringing Usagi back from their date and stopped his   
bike two blocks away from her house. Usagi took off her pink helmet   
decorated with a cute bunny and Mamoru removed his as well.  
  
"So, how long do you think it will take before you can formally   
introduce me to your parents as your boyfriend?" he asked.  
  
"My mom knows already and she`s OK with it. Truth is she likes you   
almost as much as me! The problem is my dad, he still thinks I   
should go out with someone like Umino... I think he hasn`t   
realized yet Umino`s in love with Naru." she said.  
  
"Someday he`ll accept me, I hope. Until then I`m happy to be with   
you, period." he said, kissing her too fast to allow her a chance to   
respond. Usagi quickly forgot what she wanted to say and lost   
herself in the moment, putting her arms around his waist and   
enjoying the contact of his body against hers.  
  
Across the street, Makoto and Minako were observing the two   
lovebirds.  
  
"Wow, how long can they keep it up before they have to go back up   
for air?" asked Makoto.  
  
"I don`t know, but Mamoru should be careful; Usagi could inhale   
his lungs by accident." commented Minako.  
  
Mamoru then put his helmet back on and drove off into the night,   
Usagi staring as if he were still visible in the distance. The   
girls went up to Usagi, hungry for details of her date.  
  
"Hey, were you spying on me again?!?" she complained.  
  
"We don`t have boyfriends so we gotta live vicariously through   
somebody else, don`t we Minako?" said Makoto.  
  
"Right! So tell us more about this movie you went to see, assuming   
you actually LOOKED at the screen once in a while." added Minako.  
  
Usagi blushed at this last comment.  
  
"It`s not enough that I get the third degree from mom and Luna, I   
also have to get it from you two as well?!" she complained.  
  
"You got that right, now start talking, girl!" urged Minako.  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru felt great that night. Ever since the wiseman had been   
destroyed, he had no more nightmares telling him Usagi would die.   
No more visions saying he had to stay away. He was free to be in   
love with her, to tell her how he felt.  
  
His date with her that evening had been particularly wonderful.  
  
"I`ll have to see that movie again if I ever want to know what   
happens in it." he thought, remembering how Usagi`s blue eyes held   
his attention throughout the entire projection.  
  
Rather than go home directly, he decided to take a more scenic   
route where he could take his time and gaze at the moon a little.   
It would be full moon again in a few days and the night was already   
very bright, even where there were no streetlights- just how he   
liked it.  
  
After an hour of going through endless detours, he finally felt it   
was time to go home and sleep. Lost in his daydreams, he didn`t   
notice the scrap metal pieces lying on the street; a car had dropped   
these as its muffler broke down an hour earlier. The sharpest piece   
punctured his front tire, sending his motorcycle into an out of   
control sideway slide. Mamoru was projected forward, sliding on the   
pavement over some thirty feet and hitting his head on a telephone   
pole where he stopped.  
  
The horrible pain in his head kept him from realizing that he just   
had an accident and that the cracking sound he heard as he hit the   
ground came from his broken left arm; he was unable to form coherent   
thoughts. He tried to get back up but blacked out rapidly. A hundred   
feet away, his motorcycle had finally stopped sliding forward, its   
rear wheel still spinning full speed and gradually slowing down.  
  
Five minutes later, a cab driver found him and called an ambulance   
over his radio transmitter.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi, wearing her moons-and-bunnies pyjamas, hopped in bed and   
grabbed hold of Luna in what could only be described as a   
pro-wrestling level bear hug.  
  
"He loves me, Luna, he really loves me!!!" she said, ecstatic.  
  
"Hmmmmpfff! Hmmmmpffff!" replied Luna, wich could be vaguely   
translated as "Please let go of me, I`m choking here."  
  
"I think I`ll be dreaming of my prince again tonight..." said Usagi,   
her eyes sparkling with love.  
  
"Just as long as you don`t confuse him with me in that dream of   
yours like you did last night!" said Luna, worried about what Usagi   
might do in her sleep.  
  
"I already said I`m sorry, Luna, is it my fault if Mamoru is such a   
good kisser even in my dreams?"  
  
They both went to sleep, unaware that at the same moment Mamoru was   
in an emergency room fighting for his life.  
  
* * *  
  
"Okay people, we have a crash victim here, motorbike accident,   
multiple fractures to the left arm and bruised ribs but that`s   
nothing compared to his concussion; we don`t want an hematoma to   
form so we`ll have to act quick!" yelled the doctor who received   
Mamoru at the hospital. "What`s his name?"  
  
"We don`t know yet, he didn`t have any ID papers on him." said the   
police officer who came along on the ambulance. "Let`s hope someone   
will miss him and come looking- the news report on the accident   
should help us find his family."  
  
"Yeah, let`s hope so. We need to know his name."  
  
A young girl walked in the emergency room at that moment, trying   
to find her doctor who was supposed to work the late shift. His   
training in psychology was crucial for assisting the loved ones of   
accident victims who often suffer from traumatic shocks.  
  
She was very cute with her short brown hair and hazel eyes; she   
could have been very popular with the boys if she wasn`t so unsure   
of herself. Her jogging outfit and wristbands could have struck the   
staff as odd clothing to wear so late in the evening but they were   
all too busy saving Mamoru`s life to even notice. She went straight   
to the receptionist and shyly waited until the receptionist noticed   
her before talking.  
  
"Excuse me, Yoshiko, have you seen doctor Hollander around? He said   
he`d be here tonight if I needed to talk with him." she said in a   
hushed tone.  
  
"No, Laurella, he had his shift changed at the last minute, I`m   
sorry. He said you could see him tomorrow morning if you needed to."   
said the receptionist.  
  
Laurella looked at the doctors rushing around the handsome young man   
lying on the stretcher; he might die tonight and there was nothing   
he could do to change that, no one had asked his opinion. She   
realized that unlike her, he never had the chance to decide wether   
he wanted to live or not. Life is precious, she knew that now.  
  
She left the emergency room and went back to the eastern wing of the   
hospital, the psychological treatment ward, where she was treated   
for her recurring nightmares... primarily. Laurella dreaded sleep,   
loathing it with a passion as it always brought those horrible   
visions in her head.   
  
* * *  
  
The moon princess and Endymion were dancing happily in the ballroom   
of the moon palace; they were the center of attention as usual even   
though they only had eyes for each other. The beautiful music guided   
their slow movements as they gazed deep into each other`s soul.   
Queen Serenity watched over the reception with great joy for her   
daughter was very much in love. She had a good feeling about the   
prince of earth and knew that the two of them could never be torn   
apart, not by time, distance, evil or death.  
  
The moon princess suddenly started to shake as someone held her by   
the shoulders, saying "Wake up, Usagi!". The visions of white marble   
floors and walls, the music and the reception vanished into the   
dream realm where they came from, leaving the woken Usagi face to   
face with her mother Ikuko.  
  
"Hmmmm... am I late for school again?" she asked.  
  
"No, it`s still pretty late."  
  
"Why did you wake me up, then?" Usagi asked, suspicious of her   
mother`s concerned expression.  
  
"It`s Mamoru, he`s... had an accident."  
  
Usagi felt her heart stop for a second.  
  
"What kind of accident?!?"  
  
"I just saw it on the news, his motorcycle rolled over some sharp   
metal and he blew a tire. You told me he doesn`t have any family and   
the police couldn`t identify him, I think you should go there right   
away. You`re the closest friend he has." her mom explained.  
  
"Does dad know?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Yes, I had to tell him. He doesn`t like it very much, but this is a   
rather exceptional situation, so he`s trying his best to accept it.   
Get dressed, I`ll drive you over to the hospital."  
  
"Thanks, mom." said Usagi who got nervous, fearing the worst for   
her boyfriend.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi felt horrible seeing Mamoru unconscious, his left arm in a cast   
and his head wrapped in thick bandages. An IV line fed him the   
nutrients he needed to stay alive- the worst had passed, the doctor   
said.  
  
"We didn`t find any hematomas or brain swelling, he`ll be all right.   
He was lucky to be wearing a helmet at the time of the accident,   
otherwise he`d be dead for sure." said the doctor. "He`s out of the   
woods... physically."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Usagi.  
  
"You must understand, miss Tsukino, that your boyfriend suffered a   
massive head trauma. Often in these cases, the victim experiences   
partial or total memory loss."  
  
"Amnesia?"  
  
"Yes. He might wake up missing only his memory of the accident or   
possibly a lot more. What I`d like you to remember is that whatever   
happens, don`t rush him with information that might be a shock to   
him. If he DOES have amnesia, dramatic revelations could be   
devastating." the doctor carefully explained. "When he wakes up,   
we`ll call on doctor Hollander to visit him; he`s our resident   
expert on mental trauma."  
  
"If he does have amnesia, how long will he take to recover?" asked   
Usagi.  
  
"Hard to say. Could take an hour, a day, a month, a year or he may   
never recover at all." he answered. He then left Usagi alone with   
Mamoru.  
  
In the corridor, Usagi heard her mother talking with the doctor   
about the extent of Mamoru`s injuries. She also heard her father   
arriving; from the sound of his voice, he was not pleased by his   
daughter`s relationship with this man that was "too old for her".  
  
She took Mamoru`s hands in hers.  
  
"Come back to me, my prince..." she whispered softly.  
  
His eyelids started to flutter, then opened. He had a look on his   
face that reflected of his pain and confusion.  
  
"What... hapened?" he asked with difficulty.  
  
"You were in an accident; you broke your arm and bruised a few ribs   
in addition to that big bump on your head, but you`ll be fine. The   
doctor says you don`t have any hemorrages inside that thick skull   
of yours." she said with a big smile of relief.  
  
He looked at Usagi, searching hard to remember where he saw this   
girl before.  
  
"Do I know you?" he asked.  
  
"What? You don`t... remember me, Mamoru?"  
  
"Is that my name? I can`t seem to recall anything... just a vague   
impression of speed and pain... nothing more."  
  
Usagi was crushed. She wanted to tell him that she loved him with   
all her heart, that he loved her too but the doctor had forbidden   
this kind of revelation. She had to bite her lip to stop herself   
from saying "I love you".  
  
"Oh... well... I hope you remember soon." she said.  
  
"Are you one of my friends or something?" he asked, curious.  
  
"Yes... something like that." she said before leaving the hospital   
room. Outside, her father was waiting for her. He didn`t lose a   
second to scold his daughter.  
  
"Listen to me, young lady! What were you thinking riding on a   
motorcycle with that guy? You could have been killed if he had that   
accident while you were with him! I`m starting to understand now   
why you`ve been so erratic recently, sneaking out of the house so   
late, failing all your exams; it`s HIM, isn`t it?" he said angrily.  
  
"No, it`s not his fault!" Usagi said. She wanted to say she was   
really Sailor Moon and that she was fighting evil at night, but   
how could he understand that?  
  
"Your mother and I have been thinking; we don`t want you to see   
him anymore."  
  
"WHAT? He needs me! He just had a big accident and lost all his   
memory!"  
  
"Then he won`t miss you. Come with us, young girl; we`re going   
home."  
  
Usagi followed her parents home, still under the shock of Mamoru`s   
amnesia and the interdiction placed on her ever seeing him again.  
  
* * *  
  
That night, Usagi dreamed of Tuxedo Kamen again. It was not a dream   
of music and dancing, however.  
  
He was standing just out of reach of Usagi in a wall of mist, a rose   
in his hand and a tear rolling down his cheek.  
  
"Forgive me, my love it is here that we must take our separate ways."   
he said.  
  
He threw the rose to Usagi who caught it in her trembling hands.   
While she was looking at the rose, Tuxedo Kamen disappeared in a   
shroud of deep fog. The rose immediately died in her clutched hands,   
leaving nothing but a few withered stray petals and the dead stem.  
  
"No, don`t leave me! I love you!!!" she cried out in vain.  
  
Usagi woke up in tears. She had slept very little that night and she   
wouldn`t sleep again until morning came, unable to think of anything   
else than of losing the only man she loved.  
  
Luna tried to comfort her the best she could, to no avail.  
  
* * *  
  
In the morning, the sad Usagi went to school on her parents` order.  
  
"It`ll make you think of something else." they said.  
  
Unfortunately, it wasn`t that easy. Mamoru had left an imprint in   
Usagi`s heart so deep that it couldn`t be rubbed out just like that.  
  
"Usagi, what`s the matter? You`re even more spaced-out than usual."   
said miss Haruna.  
  
She began explaining about her boyfriend, his accident and subsequent   
amnesia and how he lost his memory of her. She broke down in tears in   
the middle of the story, bringing tears to all her classmates and her   
teacher as well.  
  
"Look, Usagi, I wouldn`t normally do this, but... maybe you should go   
back home for today. You need to sort out your feelings. I`ll give   
your work assignment to Naru so she can drop it by later, OK?" she   
said with the compassion no one suspected a high school teacher   
could have.  
  
"Thank you." she said between two tears.  
  
* * *  
  
"The only thing I can remember clearly is waking up in this room   
with a blonde girl by my side. Who was she, by the way? She didn`t   
tell me her name." said Mamoru.  
  
"Her name is Tsukino Usagi, she identified you for us since you   
didn`t carry any identifications on you at the time of the   
accident." said the doctor Samuel Hollander.  
  
"This is weird. I can`t remember who I am, I`just a blank slate."  
  
"That`s why I`m here. Since you can move around, now, we`ll transfer   
you to the eastern wing of the hospital where I`ll treat you and   
hopefully restore your memory."  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi entered her desert house; she was rarely there at all during   
school hours so the house seemed almost alien by its silence. She   
didn`t want to listen to this silence by herself, but all her   
friends were in class right now and couldn`t come until much later.   
She sat down at the kitchen table thinking over what the doctor had   
said: HE MAY NEVER RECOVER AT ALL. Usagi felt a powerful clawed hand   
grip her heart and crush it as she imagined a life without her   
prince, her hero, her Mamoru. She cried for a long time, wishing   
she could somehow forget about him and move on; this proved   
impossible for every fibre of her being told her she loved him.  
  
How could she ever live with the memories of their love while Mamoru   
would not even know about their past relationship? Why was she   
always the one cursed with the memory of their love? Three times   
already she`d lost him, when he was brainwashed by Beryl, separated   
from his memories after Beryl was destroyed and tricked into   
believing he`d be the cause of her death.  
  
She couldn`t take it anymore. She just wanted to forget it all and   
comfort herself in a warm blanket of blissful ignorance. Maybe there   
was a way to do it, she thought.  
  
Usagi walked over to her parents` liquor cabinet and stared at the   
many bottles containing various liquids of strange colours and names.   
Her mom had always warned her about the dangers of drinking and she   
always listened carefully; this time, however, her sorrow was too   
great to handle.  
  
"So, Usagi, what`s your poison?" she asked herself, seeking to   
relieve some of the guilt she felt.  
  
She picked up a bottle of american whisky, her hand shaking   
nervously. She went to her room and sat down on her bed after   
checking if Luna was still out on her meeting with Artemis.  
  
Her first glass was a strange experience; the taste wasn`t very good   
but not quite repulsive either, inviting in a cyanide sort of way.   
She felt the liquid go straight down to her empty stomach and   
burped instantly.  
  
"No wonder people say you should never drink on an empty stomach;   
too bad I`m not hungry." she thought.  
  
The second glass was much easier to drink, going down more gently.   
The following few glasses even began to taste good, even though her   
head was spinning a little.  
  
"This is not working." she sadly thought. "I`m still thinking of   
him..."  
  
As the glasses went down, she sunk deeper and deeper into both   
intoxication and depression.  
  
* * *  
  
Hidden from public view in his private mansion, professor Tomoe   
worked very hard on completing his latest plan to find the pure   
hearts that held the three talismans that would release the holy   
grail. He knew they were out there somewhere but couldn`t quite   
figure out who had a heart pure enough to hold one. He did have   
an idea, though, and was making the final touches on a daemon egg   
to put his latest plan into action. All that remained was to inform   
his leader of his intentions.  
  
By a stange coincidence, she called him at the same time; her   
silhouette appeared on the viewscreen and her voice resounded   
through the perfect sound transmitters Tomoe had created   
especially for his communication equipment.  
  
"Professor, Eudial informs me that you have a new idea on how   
to find the talismans." she said.  
  
"Yes, that`s correct. Consider this blackboard of mine..." said   
Tomoe as he pointed to a board covered with calculations, drawings   
and half-complete plans written all over it. He had obviously used   
a lot of time and chalk on that one. "Now imagine this is a heart   
clogged up with a lifetime`s worth of memories, good and bad. Not   
a pretty sight, is it?"  
  
"Make your point, professor." she replied in a dry tone of voice.  
  
"Let me clean it up a little, now..." he told, erasing the writings   
and then wiping the board with a wet sponge. "With the memories   
gone, the heart is cleansed... purified."  
  
"So you`re suggesting we hunt for an amnesiac?" said the silhouette   
on the screen.  
  
"Exactly. My daemon egg is ready and so is Eudial. All I need is   
your authorisation to proceed."  
  
"Eudial has failed us a few times already, but I don`t think we have   
much choice for now.... very well, send her off along with the egg.   
just remember that our time grows shorter every day."  
  
The screen went blank.  
  
"Off you go, now, find me someone who doesn`t remember his own   
name!" said the professor to the egg who floated out of the mansion.  
  
It traveled unnoticed for a while until it entered the eastern wing   
of the same hospital where Mamoru had been admitted the day before.   
It went into the office of doctor Hollander and found a life size   
plastic replica of a human skeleton; the egg imbedded itself inside   
the cranial cavity and waited for a victim to walk by.  
  
* * *  
  
"Good thing we were there to pick up Usagi`s work, that way she   
won`t miss out on any of the cool math problems we got today!" said   
Umino to Naru as they approached Usagi`s home.  
  
"If only Usagi had your enthusiasm for school, she`d have much better   
grades." commented Naru. "Her parents aren`t home yet, they`re   
probably busy somewhere. Let`s go in!"  
  
The opened the unlocked door and noticed the whole place was silent.   
The television wasn`t turned on in the living room, so Usagi wasn`t   
there, they figured.  
  
"She could be sleeping, she loves that as much as eating... well   
maybe not THAT much." said Umino.  
  
"Let`s go check her room; if she slept a little today, it would help   
her feel better. I don`t think she slept much last night., with the   
accident and all." whispered Naru to keep the noise down.  
  
They were shocked to find Usagi completely drunk, in a half   
conscious state akin to coma. She had an almost empty bottle of   
whisky on her nightstand and was lying face down on her bed, moaning   
and crying in her hands.  
  
"He doesn`t... love me... anymore." she mumbled.  
  
"Usagi, have you been DRINKING?" Naru asked, knowing the answer   
already.  
  
"Yeah... but it doesn`t work. I can still remember Tuxedo K... woops!   
I`m not supposed to say that Mamoru is really Tuxedo Kamen! Big   
secret, very hush hush. If Beryl found out, she`d... she`d still be   
dead, wouldn`t she?" rambled Usagi.  
  
"That`s just the alcohol talking." whispered Umino in Naru`s ear.  
  
"Tell me about it." she whispered back. "How much have you had,   
Usagi?" she then asked.  
  
"Dunno. Lost count after (burp) four or five." said Usagi as she   
lifted seven fingers wich she changed to five and to nine in a rapid   
succession.  
  
Umino remembered a book he read on the effects of alcohol and tried   
to figure how much it would take to be dangerous to a girl like Usagi   
who never had more than a small glass of wine. He did not like the   
answer he came up with.  
  
"Usagi, how many times have you thrown up so far?" he asked.  
  
"None. Never throw up, you know... `ts genetic, I think." she   
answered.  
  
"Naru, throwing up is the body`s way of rejecting large amounts of   
dangerous substances we swallow; if Usagi doesn`t relieve herself   
of some of that alcohol soon, she`ll digest it all- that much   
could actually KILL her." he told Naru discreetly.  
  
"Go call an ambulance, I`ll stay here with her."  
  
"Oh, Naru, I`m so tired... go beddy-bye now..." said Usagi, grossly   
mispronouncing even the simplest of words as she slowly closed   
her eyes.  
  
"NO, USAGI! You have to STAY AWAKE!"  
  
"Naru, I feel so baaaaaad! Please don`t let me die..." she whined.  
  
"Help is on the way, you won`t die. I promise."  
  
* * *  
  
The small audience composed of patients from the eastern wing of the   
largest Tokyo hospital applauded loudly as Michiru finished her   
musical recital. Every week she would stop by and give a small   
performance to an audience that needed all the cheering up it could   
get.  
  
Haruka, who was sitting in the last row, walked up to Michiru and   
smiled.  
  
"A moving performance, as always." she commented.  
  
"Thank you. I`ve always felt that hospital patients are the most   
receptive to music; maybe it`s their close contact with their own   
mortality that opens up their soul to the beauty of sounds." said   
Michiru.  
  
"I believe I may have found our enemy`s next target right here in   
this room." said Haruka, pointing to Mamoru who was talking with   
Laurella.  
  
"Why is he here?" asked Michiru, recognizing Usagi`s boyfriend.  
  
"He lost his memory in an accident. He`s changed because of that,   
he`s much more innocent, trusting... he is pure."  
  
"I hope he`s not one of the talisman carriers. It would be a real   
shame to sacrifice him, he`s so cute!" commented Michiru.  
  
"Cuter than me?!?" asked Haruka with a smidgen of jealousy in her   
voice.  
  
"Of course not." replied Michiru, a seductive smile on her lips as   
she looked Haruka straight in the eyes.  
  
Over the intercom, a message echoed throughout the hospital as the   
services of an experienced psychologist would be required for a   
newly admitted patient: "Doctor Hollander at the emergency room   
doctor Hollander!"  
  
* * *  
  
Samuel Hollander was shocked to see that his patient`s girlfriend   
was taking his amnesia so bad; only a day had gone by and she was   
already deep in depression, trying to drink herself out of her   
sorrow.  
  
"This can`t be the first time these two have serious trouble in   
their relatonship." he thought, as Usagi was being dragged to have   
her stomach pumped from the excessive amounts of liquor she so   
irreverantly drank earlier.  
  
"Your parents know you`re here, Usagi, they`ll arrive shortly."   
said Umino who had taken care of warning everyone involved. He   
once had a big crush on Usagi and now that he was a close friend   
of hers, he wanted to help her as much as he could.  
  
"I don`t care if they ground me `till I`m old enough to be the   
ruler of Crystal Tokyo, it doesn`t matter now that he doesn`t   
remember who I am..." whined Usagi, starting to cry again.  
  
"Being drunk sure gave a kick to her imagination." thought Naru.  
  
* * *  
  
At the same moment her parents were ready to leave their house for   
the hospital, Minako arrived there with Artemis and Luna. She tried   
to convince them to let her come along as Usagi would surely need   
her friends very much.  
  
They reluctantly accepted.  
  
* * *  
  
Later that evening in her hospital room, Usagi slept off the   
remaining alcohol in her system. Minako and the cats were watching   
over her sleep, wondering how much pain she must have felt to go   
that far.   
  
"She`s always been a flake, but she was smart enough to stay off   
alcohol before. I`m very disappointed in her." commented Luna.  
  
"Cut her some slack, Luna, it`s never been easy for her. I can`t   
begin to imagine the number of times she found and lost again the   
man she loves; take it from me, losing someone you love can leave   
deep scars that can bleed even years later." said Minako.  
  
"I think it`s a sad day for her. It doesn`t matter what punishment   
her parents give her tomorrow for doing this, it won`t match what   
she`ll do to herself when she comes to. The guilt will follow her a   
long time." added Artemis.  
  
A knock at the door instantly commanded silence from the cats. If   
anyone had heard their conversation, Minako was ready to pretend   
having talked to herself. It was an all-purpose explanation she   
had used a hundred times over at home when her parents heard her   
talk with Artemis.  
  
"Who is it?" she asked.  
  
"An old friend." said a familiar voice. Laurella opened the door   
and Minako immediately recognized her.  
  
"Laurella?!? I thought you were still in Canada with your parents!"   
she said, bewildered.  
  
"And I thought you were still in England. Sometimes the world can be   
a strange place... I saw you enter Usagi`s room, so I decided to   
come and talk with you a while."  
  
"You know Usagi?"  
  
"I met Mamoru in the eastern wing, he told me about her... what   
little he knew anyway. He doesn`t remember anything since the   
accident, you know... Doc Hollander told me she was his girlfriend,   
but I`d say they were much closer than that.... soul mates,   
probably."  
  
"You`re seeing a psychologist, Laurella? Nightmares again?"  
  
"They`ve been getting worse every year. I keep having the same dream   
every night, too... I`m in a beautiful victorian style reception on   
the moon, you were there too and we were both sailor scouts...the   
reception was going well, the guests were talking with ambassadors   
from various kingdoms. At that point, Sailor Mars hands me a message   
from Kitechnum Jendra saying that he`s waiting for me in the   
library..." explained Laurella.  
  
"Who`s this Kitechnum?" asked Minako.  
  
The cats listened very carefully to the description of the dream, as   
it ressembled the memories one would have of the moon kingdom had she   
lived there in a previous life.  
  
"My secret lover- I meet him there five minutes later; he`s really   
handsome with his green guardian uniform. He says that it was a   
really good idea I had to meet him there, but it wasn`t mine. Then,   
it happens- Sailor Mars uses her powers to drain our essence, saying   
she needs our powers to fulfill her duty, that we don`t deserve such   
power. Countless voices scream as an entire planet is destroyed   
and... we both die. It`s really horrible to feel so many people die,   
even if it`s only a bad dream..." said Laurella.  
  
"Why would Sailor Mars do such a thing?" asked Minako.  
  
"That`s the strange part- in my dream, Sailor Mars has short   
burning red hair. I`ve seen the sailor scouts in action a few months   
ago and Sailor Mars has long jet black hair. She doesn`t look a   
thing like the girl who kills me in my dream. Usagi, however, bears   
an uncanny ressemblance to the moon princess, even though the   
princess was a few years younger."  
  
Usagi woke up with a terrible headache.  
  
"Truth be told, I came here because doctor Hollander asked me to   
talk with Usagi; she`s going through something I experienced before   
and maybe I can help. It`s just a coincidence that you happened to   
be there." said Laurella.  
  
"Who are you and why are you speaking so loud?" asked Usagi. "Oh,   
hello, Minako. I see you brought Luna..." she said, feeling   
tremendous guilt at the sight of the black cat.  
  
"My name is Laurella Hammerson. I know you`re feeling a lot of pain   
right now, Usagi, but what you`re doing is wrong and can only lead   
you further down into darkness."  
  
"What do you know about my feelings?!? You didn`t lose your   
boyfriend to amnesia like I did! This is the fourth time I lose him,   
I can`t take much more of this!!!" Usagi said with anger, tears   
rolling down her cheeks at the same time.  
  
"I`ve been down that road, you know. You`re feeling a lot of pain.   
Mine is to be constantly haunted by nightmares, terrible, awful   
dreams that deprive me of any peace of mind. Much like you, I   
searched desperately for inner peace I simply couldn`t find. You`ve   
tried escaping from the pain with liquor and it`ll never work:   
alcohol, drugs, I tried them all, often in combinations. It only   
delays the inevitable, until your suffering catches up with you and   
pins you down helpless. "  
  
Minako listened to every word; she hadn`t seen her friend in over two   
years and didn`t know she had been through so much since. Laurella   
rarely opened herself up like this, but something about usagi   
compelled her to confess even her greatest mistake, the one that she   
never dared admitting, not even to herself. Maybe talking of her own   
greatest error would avoid Usagi the mistake of commiting it herself.  
  
"When your suffering does catch up and corners you against the wall,   
you start to panic, thinking nothing or no one can ever help you   
break free. At that point, you would do anything to make the pain   
stop once and for all... ANYTHING." explained Laurella. She then   
removed her wristbands, revealing the reason why she never took them   
off in public: her wrists were scarred from terrible self-inflicted   
slash marks. "I chose razor blades. If my mother hadn`t found me in   
time, I wouldn`t be here to talk you out of repeating my own   
mistakes."  
  
Usagi and Minako were horrified; the cats could barely hold their   
mouths shut from the sight of the scars.  
  
"I`d never take it that far!" said Usagi with tears in her eyes.  
  
"I didn`t think I would either, until it seemed like the only way   
out. That`s why I have to remain here for now, the doctors thought   
it best until they`re sure I`ve truly beaten my addictions and   
gotten over my suicidal feelings." explained Laurella as she put   
her wristbands back on. "These look weird if I don`t dress like I`m   
into sports, you know."  
  
"I`m just so sad he doesn`t remember me..." said Usagi.  
  
"Don`t let despair eat you up, Usagi; you`re a wonderful girl, he   
fell in love with you once and he`ll fall for you again. You should   
trust his heart." said Minako who finally brought an ever so small   
smile on her friend`s face. It wasn`t much but it was a start.  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru nocked at the door of doctor Hollander`s office, right on   
time for his daily appointment. The doctor opened the door with a   
smile.  
  
"Hello, Mamoru, how are you feeling today?" he asked.  
  
"Better. I don`t feel any pain in my chest and the ringing in my   
skull is gone. All I have left now is this cast on my arm."  
  
"And your memory? Did anything come back so far?"  
  
"Not really, just vague impressions of knowing things that won`t   
return to me."  
  
"Impressions are good, work on these, try to follow them to your   
past; they`re usually good clues. I have an idea, why don`t we go   
for a walk in the courtyard instead of staying locked up in here?"  
  
"Sounds nice, let`s go."  
  
As the doctor closed the office door behind them, neither men noticed   
the skeleton model`s eyes lighting up; it had felt it`s target`s   
presence and analysed its orders: find and capture.  
  
Animated with unnatural life, the skeleton loosened itself from the   
metal frame holding it in place and walked to the door, rearranging   
its bones as it moved and sprouting several new ones as well; it now   
truly looked like a daemon. Its eyes flashed with an evil red glow-   
the target was NOT to escape.  
  
It sent a signal to Eudial that the hunt was on.  
  
* * *  
  
On their way out, Mamoru and his doctor went by Usagi`s room where   
she was being scolded by her parents for getting herself drunk. He   
felt remorse for what he felt he was responsible for, somehow.  
  
"That girl, Usagi..." he said. "...she was more to me than just a   
friend, wasn`t she?"  
  
"Yes, that`s true. She was crushed by your condition."  
  
"If only I remembered anything at all, if I had a sign that I`ll   
find myself again..." thought Mamoru. He then saw a bouquet of red   
roses left on a cart in the corridor.  
  
"Do you think I`d look good in a tuxedo?" he spontaneously asked.  
  
"Yes, why?"  
  
"I don`t know, just a thought."  
  
* * *  
  
The monstrous daemon advanced relentlessly in pursuit of his amnesia   
victim, its every step accompanied by a sickening movement in the   
skeletal structure that looked like ripples in a puddle after a rock   
was thrown in. People screamed as they witnessed the demonic   
creature and ran out of its way.  
  
Usagi and her parents had the misfortune of coming out of her room   
at the same moment the daemon was walking by.  
  
* * *  
  
A speeding red car came to a brutal stop in front of the hospital;   
Eudial stepped out of her vehicule armed with her fire buster. She   
was ready to steal Mamoru`s heart crystal.  
  
"Come to me, sweetheart!" she whispered, rushing in the building as   
more people were running out, scared away by the daemon. She came   
face to face with Hollander and Mamoru; she recognized her target   
from the visual data sent by the daemon earlier.  
  
"Remember me, darling? Of course you don`t!" she said, laughing.  
  
He barely had time to react before she shot him in the chest,   
popping out his radiant heart crystal. She picket it up and Mamoru   
fell unconscious.  
  
"I don`t know what you did but I won`t let you attack my patients!"   
screamed the doctor who attacked Eudial with his fists.  
  
Eudial easily shoved him aside; a man in his fifties doesn`t really   
stand a chance against one of the witches 5, does he? The deep   
submerge attack hitting her in the back, however, was much more   
successful in that regard, knocking her off her feet and sending   
the crystal flying in the air. Sailor Uranus caught it in mid-flight.  
  
"It`s not a talisman." she said, returning it to Mamoru.  
  
"Our search goes on, then." said Sailor Neptune.  
  
Seeing herself defeated once more and outnumbered as well, Eudial   
decided she should adopt a more sensible strategy: flee like an   
extra in a Godzilla movie, wich she did remarkably well. Uranus and   
Neptune left the hospital too, leaving the matter of the daemon in   
the capable hands of the sailor scouts.  
  
* * *  
  
"WHHAAAAAAA!" screamed Ikuko and Usagi as sharp plastic projectiles   
flew all around.  
  
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" screamed Sailor Venus, sending a thin   
beam of golden light to the monstrous beast. It slipped in-between   
two ribs, failing to do any damage at all.  
  
"I hate it when that happens..." she commented as the daemon   
charged in the manner of a bull. The beast hit Sailor Venus hard   
and smashed her on the wall, knocking her lights out for a while.  
  
The daemon realized that Eudial was no longer there wich meant that   
she either succeeded or failed in the mission; whatever the outcome,   
the daemon`s orders were clear: stay behind and do a lot of damage   
to cover Eudial`s escape.  
  
Usagi wanted very much to transform into Sailor Moon and trash   
this plastic freak job, but in her drunken stupor she had left her   
transformation locket on her nightstand back home. The daemon   
turned around and saw Laurella trying to hide in a corner behind a   
desk; he walked up to her and grabbed her neck with its bony   
fingers, squeezing hard to crush the life out of the young girl.   
Luna, from her standpoint, was the only one to see shining on her   
forehead the alchemical symbol of the dead planet Jendra as a   
reaction to her peril: a circle joined to a symbol ressembling the  
greek letter PSI.  
  
"Of course! She`s Sailor Jendra, reincarnated after her death! I   
remember now, she was killed by the original Sailor Mars like Rei   
explained us, that`s why she has those nightmares; they`re really   
memories of her previous life on the moon kingdom." thought the   
black cat.  
  
Unwilling to let a teenage girl get hurt by a monster, Usagi`s dad   
jumped it from behind, forcing it to let go of its grip on Laurella.   
The daemon turned its attention to him, however, and this was not   
good.  
  
Taking advantage of the distraction, Luna ran to Laurella.  
  
"Quick, come with me, I have something for you!" said Luna.  
  
"You can talk, kitty?"  
  
"No time to explain, come!"  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru ran down the corridor against the human flow that desperately   
sought to escape the rampaging monster; he heard Usagi screaming and   
wanted to save her even if that meant risking his own life in the   
process. It was the right thing to do, he didn`t know why it felt   
so familiar, though.  
  
* * *  
  
Luna jumped and somersaulted in the air, magically forming a silver   
transformation pen marked with the symbol of Jendra.  
  
"You see, Laurella, you`re a sailor scout too, just like Minako   
is Sailor Venus! You`re Sailor Jendra and your friends need you   
now!" said Luna.  
  
Laurella picked it up and looked at it.  
  
"What do I do with it?"  
  
"Just like in your dreams- they`re memories of your past life, so   
you should know what to do next, don`t you."  
  
"I sure do... JENDRA STAR POWER... MAKEUP! "  
  
Bright streaks of colored light surged out of the pen and surrounded   
Laurella, replacing her jogging outfit with the white and silver   
uniform of Sailor Jendra.  
  
A millenium after her brutal murder at the hands of Celeste, Sailor   
Jendra was back.  
  
* * *  
  
Removing a couple of its extra ribs, the plastic aberration made a   
strong shackle that effectively neutralized Tsukino Kenji. With the   
man out of the way, the monster moved on towards Usagi and her   
mother who held each other real tight. Usagi refused outright to   
abandon her mother who was paralyzed by fear.  
  
Mamoru arrived and saw the monster who was about to strike with its   
claws; without thinking, he picked up a rose from the bouquet on the   
cart next to him and threw it with all his strenght. The rose struck   
the beast and lodged itself in its eyesocket, stopping it   
temporarily. This delay bought the women enough time to help Mamoru   
free Kenji from his plastic shackle and get out of reach of the   
plastic creature.  
  
A young woman proudly wearing the colours of planet Jendra arrived   
and stared at her first challenge: destroying the daemon that would   
kill her friends if it wasn`t stopped.  
  
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!" screamed Sailor Jendra, shooting an   
intense beam of multicolored light from her hands; the beam hit the   
creature right in the chest, melting many plastic components that   
kept it going.  
  
"Now for the final blow... JENDRA PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!!!" she   
yelled. Seven rings of all the rainbow colours spun around her hands;   
she swung them all one by one in direction of the wounded monster,   
turning them in sharper-than-knives boomerangs. The indigo, violet,   
blue and green sliced off its hands and arms. The yellow and orange   
sliced open the skull, leaving the daemon egg helpless to the final   
red boomerang that split it in two right down the middle. The   
infernal creation died instantly, its plastic components melting   
slowly on the floor.  
  
"Who... are you?" asked Usagi.  
  
"I am Sailor Jendra, I fight for love and life." she said. She then   
picked up the unconscious Sailor Venus in her arms and left in a   
hurry.  
  
Kenji went to his wife and daughter, hugging them both.  
  
"I was so afraid I`d lose you both to that creature..." he said. He   
looked at Mamoru, grateful for his intervention. "I`m sorry I   
misjudged you, my daughter cares for you very much and now I know   
why. You could have stayed away from that thing, yet you came back   
to help us. Usagi, you can see him again if you want to, I won`t   
stand in your way."  
  
"Thanks, dad." she said. Usagi then went to Mamoru and looked at   
him with her bright blue eyes. "Even if you don`t remember me,   
I`ll stand by you."  
  
"That`s sweet of you, meatball head." he said with a smile.   
"Fighting that thing unlocked part of my memory."  
  
"Am I in there?" she asked.  
  
"Yes you are, my princess." he whispered, kissing her afterwards.  
  
* * *  
  
The following day, at the Cherry Hill temple, Makoto, Rei and Ami   
were very happy to see that Usagi had gone through her ordeal and   
came out stronger. Minako arrived at the temple a little later than   
Usagi because she made a detour to bring someone else to the   
meeting...  
  
"Who is this, Minako?" asked Rei.  
  
"This is my old friend Laurella." said Minako.  
  
"It turns out she`s one of you." said Luna.  
  
"Yes, I was Sailor Jendra in my past life." she said.  
  
Rei remembered Technuma Saturn`s story and realized that it was   
indeed possible for Sailor Jendra to have reincarnated as well.  
  
"Wow, a sixth scout on the team! Glad to have you with us!" said   
Rei.  
  
"It`s good to be here with you again- my memories of the past   
remain with me, but they`re not nightmares anymore. My nightmare is   
over at last. Usagi, I have something for you..." said Laurella as   
she pulled up the sleeves of her sweater and removed her wristbands   
which she gave to Usagi. The scouts felt uneasy at the sight of the   
nasty scars on her wrists. "I`ve decided not to run from my past   
anymore. I`ll acknowledge it even if it hurts a bit at first.   
Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power, especially knowledge   
about yourself."  
  
"Well said!" said Usagi.  
  
"That's rich, coming from a gril who flunks most of her tests..."   
added Rei on a sarcastic tone.  
  
"Hey, that was a cheap shot!" protested Usagi.  
  
With Rei and Usagi arguing again, the other scouts knew that all   
would turn out fine for Sailor Moon after all. Her tragic episode   
was finally over.  
  
  
The End  



	7. When Choices are Made

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
After reading this episode, you might be lead to believe that I don`t   
like professor Tomoe and Sailor Saturn.  
  
Don`t get me wrong- they`re great characters! I just don`t know   
that much about them, so I`m pretty much forced to clean house if I   
am to go on writing this story.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 7  
  
WHEN CHOICES ARE MADE  
  
  
  
The two girls had been fighting for weeks on end, taunting and   
mocking each other. No one could have guessed it would go so far.   
They had reached the point of no return and only one would walk   
away from this battle.  
  
Rei stared intensely at Usagi and vice versa, lightning bolts   
shooting out of their eyes. All around them, people looked in   
bewildered amazement as the final confrontation began.  
  
"This time, you went too far, meatball head!" said Rei.  
  
"Then why don`t you do something about it, fluff-for-brains?"   
replied Usagi.  
  
The two adversaries took their positions, ready to fight one last   
time, winner takes all.  
  
"This situation is totally out of hand, we have to stop them!" said   
Laurella, concerned for her newfound friends.  
  
"No, it`s between Usagi and Rei, we must let them settle this...   
their way." said Makoto.  
  
"Prepare to eat asphalt, girl." snarled Usagi.   
  
"Make me!" snapped Rei, a murderous glint in her eyes.  
  
They both inserted a token in the "Killer Fighters" game and pushed   
the start button, choosing their favorite warrior and engaging the   
pixel fighters in a lethal combat. Everyone in the game center held   
their breath, captivated by the relentless assaults of the top level   
players who attacked and counter-attacked with deadly precision.   
Punches followed kicks, one after the other as most of the blows   
were blocked or dodged. Both fighters were almost out of energy-   
Rei went for broke and attempted a daring jump-kick; Usagi saw it   
coming and struck like thunder, hiting over and over in a seemingly   
endless combinaison and giving out punishment like never before.  
  
"ULTRA COMBOOOOO!!!" screamed the machine out loud for all to hear.  
  
"No... I lost! I can`t believe I lost!" cried out Rei.  
  
"Nothing says *overkill* like an ultra combo, don`t you think?"   
bragged the victorious Usagi.  
  
"I bow to the greatest player.. you win." gracefully said Rei.  
  
"This competition was fun... hey, let`s do it again with the new   
dirt track racing game!" Usagi said.   
  
"Yeah, good idea!" answered Rei who ran right behind Usagi to the   
other side of the game center, almost running down Mamoru in the   
process.  
  
"Don`t these two ever stop?" wondered Mamoru.   
  
"Not very likely." replied Minako.  
  
"I can`t believe Ami missed the final showdown..." commented Makoto.  
  
"She stayed home with Luna to catch up on her studies... like she   
even needs to study!" said Minako.  
  
Mamoru smiled as he looked at his sweet Usagi playing the racing   
game. He could hardly believe that just an hour earlier, he didn`t   
even remember ever working in this place where he met her; his   
amnesia had stolen much from him, but he claimed it all back one   
piece at a time. Now if he could only remember what this Tuxedo   
Kamen persona of his was supposed to be... after all, Usagi told   
him he was responsible for many of the scouts` victories over the   
last few years. His cast would go off soon, but memory loss can be   
such a tricky thing...  
  
* * *  
  
Somewhere on the outskirts of town, an ominous mansion stood out   
like a vulture atop a dead tree waiting for its next meal. In the   
heart of this house of evil, a lonely man worked tirelessly, making   
plans to find the precious talismans that would enable him to get   
the holy grail and take control of the earth in the name of his   
leader. He was well on his way of completing his latest daemon egg;   
this was undoubtedly his best egg yet, the crown achivement of his   
twisted carreer. This one could not possibly fail its mission.  
  
His attention was suddenly distracted by an intruder monitor turned   
red- someone was trying to break in his mansion.  
  
"Hmph. Just you wait `till you meet my friends the witches 5, you`ll   
be regretting entering my home... not for very long, but very, VERY   
much." he commented.  
  
Powerful battle sounds echoed through the walls; the intruder was a   
strong one for sure or he`d be dead by now. Hotaru entered her dad`s   
lab, showing worry.  
  
"What`s going on?" she asked.  
  
"Someone`s trying to break in, but the girls are taking care of it   
right now. It shouldn`t take too long." he explained.  
  
The sounds of the raging battle continued for a few minutes, then   
died down.  
  
"See, I told you honey. I pity whoever that was, the witches 5 can   
be so damn cruel." commented the professor.  
  
Without prior warning, the laboratory`s door blew up, shooting wood   
splinters everywhere and propelling the professor and his daughter   
to the floor. When the sawdust cloud settled, young Hotaru was lying   
unconscious while her father scrambled to find his missing glasses.   
He found them in time to witness the entrance of a powerful man   
dressed in heavy golden armor. In his right hand, he held a blood   
stained two-bladed battle axe mounted on a pole as tall as he was.   
The knight walked in the lab in a slow, deliberate fashion meant   
to inspire fear.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Tomoe screamed in a panic.  
  
The knight opened his left hand and threw down what it held so  
tightly a second before; the remains of the daemon egg that had   
possessed a plastic skeleton a few weeks earlier. From his deep,   
growling and openly menacing voice, he spoke:  
  
"Is this yours?" he asked.  
  
"Yes..." answered the terrified professor.  
  
"You`ve been meddling with us, professor."  
  
"I... have?"  
  
"Yes, trying to gather heart crystals, fighting the sailor scouts,   
attracting attention... we don`t like it. You`re truly annoying to   
the triad and we won`t stand for it. My associates sent me to   
correct the situation- PERMANENTLY." coldly explained the knight.  
  
With one mighty swing, the knight struck the professor in the chest.   
The horrible damage to his internal organs was enough to kill him   
instantly. The young girl came to, an evil sparkle in her eyes.   
Sweet Hotaru had left her place to the wicked Mistress Nine. She   
changed her clothes into the uniform of Sailor Saturn and   
materialized a large glaive to fight the knight with. He would pay   
dearly for what he had done.  
  
"What manner of demon are you?" she asked.  
  
"Your worst dream come true, a knightmare brought to life." he   
grunted in a low tone.  
  
"I never have nightmares." she snarled, charging the golden warrior   
before he could remove his axe from the professor`s corpse.  
  
The golden glint of the armor faded away, the color vanishing as   
well. A fraction of a second later, the knightmare had dissolved its   
physical form into a dark cloud of putrid smoke. Sailor Saturn   
slashed like a maniac at the cloud, utterly failing to do any damage   
at all. Her weak body soon slowed down, refusing to go on fighting.   
Breathing fast and barely standing up, she let her glaive slip from   
her fingers and clank on the cold cement floor. The knightmare   
reformed himself from the black smoke, snickering as he did so. He   
smashed his fist in her face, sending her flying back into a table   
that collapsed under her weight. She tasted blood in her mouth and   
noticed her nose was broken. Sailor Saturn had met her match.  
  
With dead cold precision, the knightmare pulled his axe from Tomoe`s   
lifeless body. As he walked to his next victim, he crushed a small   
radio under his foot wich turned itself on. By a sinister   
coincidence, it blared out Metallica`s succesful song "Enter   
Sandman".  
  
HUSH LITTLE BABY, DON`T SAY A WORD  
  
The knight strode forward, swinging his axe in the manner of a   
practice swing.  
  
AND NEVER MIND THAT NOISE YOU HEARD  
  
He came closer to Sailor Saturn- her bruised body refused to   
move.  
  
IT`S JUST THE BEAST UNDER YOUR BED  
  
Through his helmet`s visor, his eyes glowed blood red.  
  
IN YOUR CLOSET, IN YOUR HEAD  
  
He slammed down his foot on Saturn`s chest so she couldn`t move as   
he aimed; his tremendous weight pinned her down solidly.  
  
EXIT LIGHT  
  
Feeling death close at hand, Sailor Saturn began to cry in fearful   
despair.  
  
ENTER NIGHT  
  
"Please, don`t kill me..." she silently pleaded with her tear filled   
eyes.  
  
TAKE MY HAND  
  
He swung the axe down on her neck.  
  
OFF TO NEVER-NEVER LAND  
  
* * *  
  
From her high position on Ami`s desk, Luna watched the sleeping   
Artemis. "What did I ever see in that lazy alleycat?" she thought.   
Ami knew well that Artemis had no interest in her algebra problems   
and came to her house only to escape from having to go to the game   
center stuffed in Minako`s carrybag. Luna didn`t care much for that   
bag either.  
  
"So, Luna, who do you think will win?" asked Ami to the black cat.  
  
"The final showdown, you mean? Rei is pretty good and very   
disciplined, so that gives her an edge over Usagi`s reckless game   
style, but if push comes to shove, Usagi fights like a tigress. It`s   
anybody`s match." answered Luna.  
  
The door bell rang and Ami went to see who that was; her parents   
were out for the afternoon, so she had to take some time from her   
studying to do it. Not that a minute away from her book could do   
much to hinder her schoolwork. She was surprised to see her   
boyfriend Greg standing on the porch, an embarassed look on his   
face.  
  
"Hi, Greg, can I help you?" she asked.  
  
Luna, from a conceiled spot, eavesdropped on the conversation; she   
realized Usagi was beginning to rub off on her.  
  
"Actually, I`m here for you." he said, his smile drifting away. "You   
left this calculator at my place and figured you`d want it back,   
since you`re planning to break up with me today." he explained. She   
almost asked him how he knew, but the answer was obvious; his   
ability to foresee the future had given her away for sure. "I saw   
it in a vision last night. I couldn`t see exactly why, but I do know   
you need to sort out your feelings right now." he added.  
  
"I`m so sorry, Greg, it can`t work between the two of us." said   
Ami.  
  
"I`ve seen this moment in my head before, so I`m sure I can`t change   
your mind. Take care, Ami, I`ll miss you." he said, turning his back   
and leaving her life.  
  
A tear roled down her cheek. Luna, who saw the whole thing, jumped   
on her shoulder.  
  
"What was that all about? You two are breaking up?" asked the cat.   
  
"Yes." answered Ami.  
  
"At least tell me why- you can`t just let him walk out like   
that!" said Luna.  
  
"I can`t tell why, because... I`m not... I`m still not sure yet."   
uttered Ami.  
  
"Ami, you`re not making any sense!"  
  
"That`s all the sense I need right now, so CASE CLOSED, all right?"   
snapped Ami.  
  
"If you say so..." said the cat, realizing she couldn`t change   
anything.  
  
* * *  
  
The doors closed on the Sunforce plaza`s main elevator, the only one   
capable of taking Coran Demsy to the top floor. He looked prety   
ordinary with his medium built stature and average-sized   
musculature. Whatever charm nature had failed to give him, he made   
up with style; from his latest fashion clothes to his well groomed   
hair, not a detail was out of place. Even though his shades matched   
his clothes perfectly, they were practical in nature: ever since he   
was fifteen years old, a simple eye contact with anyone allowed him   
to read their mind whether he wanted to or not. He wore the shades   
to avoid "accidents" that cluttered his own mind with futile surface   
thoughts of other people; besides, he had the tendancy to lose   
himself in these thoughts if he wasn`t careful. Psyche, as he was   
also known, had a gift that was also a curse.  
  
The doors opened on the twenty-sixth floor; only the triad could   
access it with the appropriate palm scan as it contained the magical   
belongings of the elementalist Majestra Vortika. He stepped   
cautiously through what ressembled an antique alchemist`s laboratory   
remodeled by a schizophrenic interior designer. A huge gust of wind   
blew Psyche`s hair, making him swear because it took close to an   
hour of careful brushing to make it look good that morning. A   
middle-aged woman dressed in a green elementalist`s robe floated   
in front of him, held up by the miniature windstorm localised solely   
inside her lab. Not a single one of her black hair was affected by   
the powerful winds, neither were her scrolls, books or various   
knick-knacks.  
  
Hell, how DID she do that?  
  
Majestra Vortika let herself float through the winds and landed   
gently in a luxurious wheelchair. Without the winds, she could   
barely move around; her legs refused to support her weight. Psyche   
had asked her many times why her body was so weak despite her great   
magic. The price of power, she`d always answer.  
  
"You`re right on time for our meeting." she commented.  
  
"If Ronmar can show up, we`ll be able to begin..." replied Psyche.  
  
As if on cue, a dark noxious cloud seeped in the lab through the   
elevator doors. "Speak of the devil and you`ll see its horns." said   
the fashionable man. The black smoke formed itself into a large   
knight completely covered in gold battle armor. His axe was still   
smeared with blood.  
  
"Ronmar, dread lord of darkness, first knightmare of the spheres,   
has arrived." he said in his deep, growling voice.  
  
"I assume you took care of the parasites?" asked Vortika.  
  
"A knightmare does NOT fail in his tasks. The nuisance has been...   
cut down to size, shall we say." the knightmare said with fiendish   
pride.  
  
"Good, we can proceed to the next phase of our plan." said Vortika.  
  
"Yes, it`s time to gather more information on the sailor scouts."   
said Psyche.  
  
* * *  
  
Later that evening, it was all over the news: the Tomoe residence   
massacre shocked the entire country by the sheer brutality and   
violence of the assault. Nobody knew what sick individual could   
have possibly commited such a monstrous act.  
  
Sitting in her living room, Haruka watched the news report and tried   
to figure how this would affect her quest for the talismans. Would   
they even be necessary now? Would these deaths change her objective?   
Michiru joined Haruka and sat next to her on the comfortable sofa.   
She had been watching the news as well.  
  
"It must have taken a strong evil force to do such a terrible   
thing." observed Michiru.  
  
"Indeed. Our quest for the grail might have ended with these murders,   
you know." Haruka observed.  
  
"Perhaps, but the war against evil is far from over. We must stay   
ready in case the fight turns in evil`s favor- we can never let the   
forces of evil triumph." Michiru replied.  
  
"True, but after a highly visible strike such as this, it`s not   
likely they`ll do anything else tonight." said Haruka.  
  
"Yes, that leaves us some time to relax..." whispered Michiru,   
cuddling to Haruka.   
  
Haruka smiled and turned off the television. There are things in   
life more important than news reports.  
  
* * *  
  
"Dear lord, this is awful!" said Shingo when he saw the news.  
  
"I`ve never heard anything so horrible!" said Ikuko.  
  
"What`s this world coming to?" wondered Kenji.  
  
Usagi said nothing. She was too busy trying to figure who in the   
world was powerful enough to kill Tomoe and his entire gang all at   
once.  
  
This doesn`t sound good, thought Luna.  
  
* * *  
  
A new enemy had made its first move and the scouts needed to know   
more about it, so Rei got started on a fire reading. She relaxed her   
body and focused her mind on the dancing flames, trying to summon an   
image from the fire god. This was an exceptionaly difficult task as   
this evil entity had some mental shielding covering up its presence.   
Rei was not about to give up, though.  
  
An hour passed when she finally saw a face; it was the man whom his   
allies called Psyche. Having never met him, however, she could not   
know who that was, so she commited his every feature to memory,   
preparing to spot him out of a crowd the first time she saw him.  
  
Yuuichiro knocked and came in.  
  
"Whoa, you`re drenched, Rei, tough reading, huh?" he said.  
  
"Yeah, it`s difficult sometimes." she replied.  
  
"Your grandfather wants to know if you`re planning to sleep at all   
tonight or stay here until the sun comes up tomorrow morning."  
  
"I`m done now, I`ll be in bed after a quick bath." she said smiling.  
  
The young man wanted to say something else; he opened his mouth to   
speak, but stopped before any words crossed his lips. What he wanted   
to say remained stuck in his throat, just like all the other times   
he tried to say it before.  
  
"Is there something you want to tell me, Yuuichiro?" Rei asked.  
  
"No, it`s not important." he said.  
  
I`m just madly in love with you, he thought, I have been from the   
first moment I saw your eyes. Yuuichiro bit his tongue for choking   
up again and went to his room. Tomorrow I`ll tell her, he thought.   
Yeah, for over a year and a half now it`s been tomorrow, always   
tomorrow.  
  
The next day was Usagi`s favorite: saturday. To be quite honest, any   
day without school would easily win her favor. A scout meeting was   
about to begin at the temple , so she walked there and enjoyed the   
beautiful day that announced the soon-to-come summer. A speeding   
motorcycle screeched as it braked and stopped right next to her.   
Haruka lifted her bike helmet`s visor and smiled; Michiru, who was   
holding Haruka by the waist, did the same.  
  
"Hi, Usagi, nice day for a walk." said Haruka.  
  
"Yes, it is!" Usagi answered.  
  
A second motorcycle came by, stoping aside Haruka. The pilot removed   
her helmet- it was Laurella. Haruka was impressed by the motorcycle   
model Laurella was driving.  
  
"Hiya Usagi, who are your friends?" she asked.  
  
"This is Ten`ou Haruka and Kaiou Michiru. Girls, this is my friend   
Laurella Hammerson." Usagi said, introducing everyone.  
  
"Nice bike." said Haruka. "That`s a Velociraptor Four, right?"  
  
"Yeah, dad gave it to me thursday." Laurella said.  
  
"What`s the occasion?" asked Michiru.  
  
"No occasion, he`s just happy that I`m getting better so he gave me   
his latest model." she answered.  
  
"HIS latest model? Wait a minute... is your dad the same Hammerson   
from Hammer corporation?" Usagi asked.  
  
"He`s the one!"  
  
"Tell your dad he manufactures the best bikes in the world. His   
Wakizashi model never let me down." said Haruka, reving up her   
engine. "Well, gotta go now! Bye girls!" Said Haruka and Michiru,   
speeding along the street.  
  
Usagi looked at Laurella and asked the one question that burned   
her lips:  
  
"Did you see that on television?"  
  
Of course, that question was unnecessary. EVERYONE in Japan knew of   
the Tomoe massacre.  
  
"Yeah, you`d think a man like him could have defended himself better.   
He should have hired guards from the agency." said Laurella.  
  
"What agency?"  
  
"THE agency. It`s a security personnel company that`s specialized in   
security guard rental. Dad signed them up to protect his head office   
last month and he`s very pleased with the performance of the soldiers   
in purple" explained Laurella.   
  
"I really don`t think they would have made much of a difference to   
Tomoe." commented Usagi.  
  
"Regardless, I think we should continue this conversation at the   
temple. See ya there, meaball head!"  
  
"Hey, only Mamoru can call me that!" protested the blonde girl.  
  
Laurella did her best to understand the weird interactions between   
the sailor scouts, but was sometimes confused; this "meatball head"   
thing, for instance- why was she so insulted unless it was her   
boyfriend who said it? Many details still escaped her grasp. No   
matter, she`d learn fast enough.  
  
* * *  
  
Majestra Vortika sat in the near-total darkness of her lab, focused   
on the twelve glowing crystals displayed in a ritualistic fashion on   
her ebony table. A bubble of vision was thus created, granting view   
of a small part of a downtown shopping mall. Ronmar stood in a   
corner, out of the way of Vortika`s elemental magic. He watched with   
great interest from a distance; it was clear he did not care to get   
caught by a stray spell. Through her magic, Vortika was able to tap   
into Psyche`s somewhat limited telepathic abilities and communicate   
with him directly through their thoughts.  
  
"Is everything set for the scouts`arrival?" she asked without making   
a sound.  
  
In an alley, Psyche heard this voice in his mind and smiled,   
caressing a rough piece of crystal in his hands.  
  
"All ready to start over here." he replied without moving his lips.  
  
He threw the crystal in the air where it morphed into a moving mass   
of rough crystal shards that vaguely ressembled a humanoid creature.   
Upon its formation, it heavily landed on the concrete sidewalk.   
"Attack." said Psyche to the creature. Like a mineral wave, the   
bizarre beast "glided" on the pavement towards the crowded mall with   
a single, primitive impulse driving its semiconscious mind: DESTROY!  
  
Amidst the panic created by the beast, a young girl calmly opened her   
blue laptop computer to warn her friends about this creature. "Rei`s   
fire reading can wait, we`ve got trouble down here!" said Ami. She   
ducked in a dark alley to quickly change in something more   
appropriate to the situation.  
  
"MERCURY STAR POWER... MAKE-UP!"  
  
A wave of liquid blue energy wrapped around Ami, fading away her   
jeans and shirt to replace them with Sailor Mercury`s uniform. Now   
she needed to delay the beast until the rest of the team arrived-   
she ran after the hulking crystal mass who had already entered a   
furniture store. She did not notice the man lurking in the shadows,   
observing her as she transformed.  
  
"Wasn`t that interesting..." he whispered to himself.  
  
"Quite the lucky find, my friend." said Vortika`s voice in his mind.  
  
" We`re on to something here, this plan is working even better than   
I hoped." he thought to Vortika.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Mercury dodged left and right to avoid the barage of flying   
tables and chairs thrown by the creature in her direction. She was   
getting tired and couldn`t take much more of this; unfortunately,   
the beast didn`t seem tired at all and over half of the store`s   
merchandise was still untouched, ready to be used as projectiles.  
  
"Give... up... yet?" asked Mercury to the shifting crystal formation,   
trying to catch her breath.  
  
The beast growled and hurled an oak table to the scout who didn`t   
have any strenght left to move out of the way- she wasn`t hit,   
though. A bolt of lightning blasted the table to bits before it   
could hit its intended tearget, showering Mercury with harmless   
wood splinters. The cavalry had arrived: Sailor Moon, Mars, Jupiter,   
Venus and Jendra were ready for action.  
  
"I am the pretty soldier Sailor Moon and I won`t stand for huge   
monsters destroying perfectly good furniture!"  
  
"Cut the chit-chat, Sailor Moon, that thing doesn`t have a clue   
about what you`re saying, it probably doesn`t even have enough   
intelligence to flip on a lightswich!" said Sailor Mars.  
  
"Killjoy!" she replied.  
  
* * *  
  
"They`re all eager to fight my creation, it seems. Do they realize   
that by doing so they`re playing right in our hands? I think not."   
observed Vortika, completely entranced by her magical viewscreen.  
  
Ronmar watched the battle unfold from a more emotionaly detached   
point of view, analyzing the scouts` strategy with the experience of   
a hundred wars.  
  
"They pose no threat individually. However, their superb teamwork   
makes them a formidable fighting force." he commented.  
  
They stared at the screen as the scouts each used their individual   
attacks to weaken the beast, allowing Sailor Moon to use her scepter   
to erradicate it.  
  
"Our course of action is clear: we must dismantle this team one   
piece at a time." said the knightmare.  
  
"Remember that we can`t kill them yet- our whole plan rests on   
collecting them ALIVE. Only then can we use their power to our own   
ends." said Vortika.  
  
* * *  
  
Back at the temple, the scouts were at a loss as what to think about   
this battle.  
  
"Anyone can figure out what that was about?" wondered Makoto.  
  
"This monster attack seemed rather pointless, I admit." said Ami.  
  
"A mindless hunk of crystal doesn`t just start moving by itself, you   
know- someone`s behind this for sure." said Usagi. She was afraid   
this would ruin yet another date with Mamoru.  
  
Usagi made a lot of sense, for once, thought the others.  
  
"My guess is it`s the same jokers who bumped off Tomoe yesterday.   
There`s a new Mr.Big in town and he wants to get the message across,   
one way or the other." said Laurella.  
  
Luna, silent until that point, lifted her head as if she tried to   
hear a distant sound. The girls hung on her lips, waiting to hear   
her opinion.  
  
"We`ve had many powerful enemies in the past..." said Luna.   
"...Beryl, Metalia, the Doomtree, the Dark Moon... you`ve always   
pulled through somehow..."  
  
She looked at Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako.  
  
"... standing your ground until the end..."  
  
She turned to Usagi.  
  
"...discovering your true strenght..."  
  
She hopped on Laurella`s lap.  
  
"... finding true friendship and love along the way." she concluded.  
  
Luna`s words brought new confidance to the sailor scouts.   
  
Would it be enough, wondered Artemis.  
  
"You should get some rest, we might have a tough fight on our hands   
real soon." said the white cat.  
  
"Be careful. We still don`t know what we`re up against." concluded   
Luna.  
  
Rei left her friends who were going home and went back to her room.   
She changed to her temple garbs to do her daily chores. As Sailor   
Mars, she fought evil and stood for justice, defending the innocent-   
how long could the scouts keep on going, she wondered. There might   
come a day when they would face someone just too strong for them   
and... what then? What would become of her grandfather, of Yuuichiro,   
of all those who relied on them?  
  
No, she couldn`t allow herself to wallow in self-doubt because then   
the darkness would truly triumph over her faith. She had to be   
strong, for Usagi, for the scouts, for everyone. She knew she would   
have to stand alone to this inner darkness she fought, so she would   
continue this battle on her own terms.  
  
"Pick yourself up, Rei, it`s no time to weaken." she told herself.  
  
Now, where had Yuuichiro left the broom?  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi decided that the best way to be ready was to be relaxed, so   
she laughed her head off reading some comic books she borrowed from   
Rei (before she had a chance to read them, of course). The lights   
then dimmed, blinking on and off, like the power was being affected   
somehow. She looked out the window and saw only her house was being   
subject to this electrical fluctuation; she got nervous. Could they   
have found her already?  
  
Could her family end up as another mass murder, a "Tsukino   
massacre"? She got worried for her little brother upstairs; her   
parents were out of the house at the moment, so it was up to her   
to make sure he was all right.  
  
"Shingo? Are you okay?" she asked. No answer.  
  
Her heart pounded hard as she climbed the stairs three steps at a   
time, the lights blinking all over the house.  
  
"Shingo!!!" she screamed.  
  
"Don`t panic, ditz-head! It`s just a small power surge, nothing to   
freak over." said Shingo through his bedroom door.  
  
"You`re all right, then?"  
  
"Try not to sound TOO disappointed." he answered.  
  
Maybe I`m too tense, she thought.   
  
Shingo heard his sister walk downstairs and cracked open his door to   
make sure she was gone, then breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at   
the charred remains of what used to be his desktop lamp.  
  
"Whoa, she almost caught me, this time. Like I want to explain THAT   
to anyone." he told himself.  
  
* * *  
  
The sun rose over Tokyo, waking up the japanese city for yet another   
day. The clear blue skies promised a beautiful day for all those who   
would seize it. Many people were already up and going about their   
business, running left and right at breakneck speed in an ever   
accelerating race against the clock. Two seemingly timeless beings   
knew better than the short lived humans, however, taking their time   
to grieve their fallen students in a deserted graveyard.  
  
These two visitors cared little for the constant races and worries   
of humanity.  
  
The first one placed a few flowers on the girl whom he had thaught   
everything she knew about being a sailor scout over a thousand years   
ago. Technuma Saturn shed a tear for Tomoe Hotaru, Sailor Saturn.   
Even though she had been corrupted by the evil Mistress Nine, a   
part of her was still the devoted sailor scout he had trained in   
the days of the moon kingdom. From another part of the graveyard,   
Technara Mars came to meet him.  
  
"Celeste has a beautiful resting place." she said. "For all the evil   
she commited in the name of duty, she was still the most devoted   
warrior the guardians have ever trained."  
  
"Maybe so, but the fact remains that she murdered Kitechnum and   
Laurella in cold blood." said Technuma.  
  
"Technuma, I`ve known you since we were created by the Prime. You   
can`t hide anything from me, I can tell you still feel guilty over   
this situation." she observed.  
  
"Laurella was still breathing when I found their bodies; it was too   
late for Kitechnum, but I should have saved Laurella! I gave up   
too soon on her..." he said, hiding his sadness with little success.  
  
"You know Celeste had drained her essence, like Kitechnum`s, she   
never could have lived."  
  
"That`s no excuse for not trying." said Technuma, looking at the   
stark tombstone.  
  
Here lies Tomoe Hotaru  
Gone but not forgotten  
  
"Let`s go, our business here is done and I don`t have any reason to   
come back to earth again." he said to Technara.  
  
"You know, Technuma, maybe they`ll meet again somehow... Kitechnum   
cared so much for Laurella, that must count for something." said   
Technara.  
  
"Like Endymion and Usagi, you mean? I suppose that`s possible."  
  
"I always thought they made a cute couple." said Technara Mars.  
  
"I always wondered why they thought we didn`t know they were in   
love." added Technuma Saturn.  
  
The two technum guardians walked to an empty lot a few miles away   
where they had landed their cloaked ship, the AVATAR MARK II. They   
knew the scouts would be facing a new powerful opponent- that was   
just the sort of thing they had been trained for by the guardians.   
So that no guardian would ever lose his life and imbalance the   
Technum flux of the solar system; that sort of thing can destroy   
planets.  
  
* * *  
  
Even though this was the most beautiful sunday Tokyo had seen since   
the last summer, some people nonetheless insisted on spending the   
day inside the public library. Ami was leading the pack as always.   
Sitting by herself at a table lost between two rows of shelves on   
the second floor, she read a very old history book. Digesting the   
steady flow of knowledge to feed her starving brain, she was more   
hungry in this regard than Usagi was for food. There was something   
intoxicating about this place. No matter what the weather was like   
outside, the library always felt the same; warm, but not too hot,   
comfortably numbing for the body to let the mind work unhindered.   
The air had a strange smell of paper, humidity and photocopier ink   
that compelled silence to all.   
  
Rei, on the other hand, was bored out of her skull. She approached   
her friend, the bookworm high commander, and spoke in hushed tones,   
almost afraid of whatever divine punishment befell those who would   
dare defy the most sacred rule of all: KEEP QUIET.  
  
"Ami..." she whispered, "are you gonna stay in here all day?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Look outside- it`s a beautiful day that deserves nothing more than   
a picnic in the park and an afternoon of outdoors fun with the whole   
gang!" said Rei.  
  
"It`s not lunch time yet, can I read a bit more before we leave?"  
  
"Sure, I`ll go talk to the cute guy I saw in the geography section-   
I hope he`s single."  
  
* * *  
  
One floor down at the entrance, a man dressed in a very sharp black   
suit with matching shades walked over casually to engage conversation   
with the receptionist. She thought him to be very attractive and   
would have liked to see his eyes, hidden behind his ever present   
dark lenses.  
  
"Hello, maybe you can help me, I`m looking for my friend, I think   
she came here earlier..." he said very politely.  
  
"What does she look like?" she asked him.  
  
"About five feet two inches tall with short dark blue hair,   
probably carrying a couple of books of hers."  
  
"Yes, I`ve seen her. Ami does comes here often, don`t you think?"  
  
"So Ami is her name, is it?" thought Psyche. "She loves to read,   
what can I say... so she`s here right now?" he asked.  
  
"On the second floor somewhere."  
  
"Thank you ever so much." said Psyche with a very big smile.  
  
He took his time to go through the various sections, getting a few   
lovestruck gazes from young girls along the way. Even in world   
conquest, style was everything to him. On the second floor, he   
managed to find his way through a bookworm`s maze to the now lonely   
Ami.  
  
"Perfect," he thought, "she`ll never know what I`m doing until it`s   
too late to resist. No witnesses either."  
  
A simple surface scan would suffice; he`d get all the information   
he needed and be gone in a moment. He`d done it many times before-   
hit and run, as it were. Mercury wouldn`t know what was going until   
he was gone.  
  
Captured by the magic of the written word, she didn`t hear him   
coming.  
  
"Excuse me, may I borrow a moment of your time, please?" he said.  
  
"Yes, how may I help you?" said Ami.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts..." said Psyche, pulling down his shades   
to reveal his ash grey eyes. He stared right into Ami`s deep blue   
eyes, making eye contact and entrancing her in an instant.  
  
"Now I have you!" he thought.  
  
Ami had no idea what was happening to her; she felt like this   
strange man was using her eyes to look in her head the same way he   
would use a spyhole to look through a closed door. She wanted to   
resist but couldn`t do a thing. Psyche browsed through her surface   
thoughts and learned much in very little time, from the scouts`   
powers to their secret identities. The girl was strong, however,   
and held back a lot from him. He felt this and pushed further,   
digging through the carefully stacked layers of her complex mind,   
searching for more. Ami began to shake; she wasn`t taking this   
well at all.  
  
"What are you keeping from me, Sailor Mercury?" he asked silently.  
  
Mercury could feel his fingers clawing through her mental defenses,   
unveilling her every secret. The more he dug, the more he found.   
She desperatly wanted to scream, but her body was paralyzed. The   
weaknesses of the scouts were finally exposed to Psyche`s prying   
eyes- he had found what he was looking for, still something   
remained, a secret so heavy on her conscience that it mustered all   
of her mental ressources in covering it up. So heavy was this   
secret that even Ami herself was forbidden access to it by her   
subconscious. He had to know, so he pushed with all of his psychic   
might. Ami couldn`t take any more of this and her remaining inner   
defenses crumbled under the assault. She screamed from the terrible   
mental pain she suffered while Psyche learned her secret; the entire   
library was alerted and Rei came running to help her friend.  
  
"Well, this was... interesting." said Psyche, turning his back to   
Ami who collapsed on the floor in tears. He put his shades back on   
and left.  
  
Rei ran as fast as she could and bumped right into Psyche. She   
recognized him from her vision.  
  
"YOU!" she said. Her attention was distracted by the painful crying   
of Ami, so Psyche pushed Rei aside and escaped.  
  
Getting back up, she wanted to run after him; her friend was more   
imporatant, however, so she went to Ami wich she found curled up in   
a foetal position on the floor, crying uncontrolably.  
  
"Ami, what happened?!?" she asked.  
  
"He... he..." tried to say Ami through her sobbing.  
  
"Has he molested you?"  
  
"No... his eyes... in my head... get him out of my head... GET HIM   
OUT OF MY HEAD!" she cried out to Rei, cliging on to her for   
protection.  
  
People began to huddle around the two of them, curious as to what   
happened.  
  
"Call the police, that man dressed in black did something to my   
friend!!!" said Rei with rage in her voice. Everyone understood   
what she meant.  
  
"I saw him a few minutes ago, I can describe him to the cops!"   
said the receptionist who suddenly felt guilty when she realized   
that she directed Psyche to the innocent Ami.  
  
"Don`t leave me alone... with the eyes..." cried Ami.  
  
The strong Sailor Mercury had vanished from Ami; it was nothing   
more than a frightened, helpless child that Rei was comforting.   
She would need counseling to heal the horrors she had been put   
through.  
  
* * *  
  
"What the hell did you do back there, Coran? We`ve got cops on the lookout for a rapist that   
fits your description!" resounded Vortika`s voice in Psyche`s head.  
  
"There were... complications. Her mind was much stronger than any I ever encountered before,   
I had to do a more forceful search to get our informations, wich I DID get, thank you very   
much." he thought back to her.  
  
"You can`t get back to the Sunforce plaza now, keep a low profile at   
our hideout until you are needed again. Now, tell me what you found   
that will help us defeat them..."  
  
* * *  
  
"I came as soon as I was told, where is my daughter?!?" asked Ami`s   
mother in a frantic fashion.  
  
Then again, who could possibly blame her for it? Ten minutes ago,   
any mother`s worst nightmare became a reality when she received a   
phone call informing her that her child was being treated at the   
rape victim center after a maniac assaulted her. The details were   
scarce and she was fearing the worst; she was sent to a room where   
Ami was being comforted by her friends Rei, Usagi and Laurella. She   
ran to her daughter and hugged her tight, crying along with her.   
Rei told Miss Mizuno exactly what happened- the edited version, of   
course, expunged of the sailor scouts and fire readings.  
  
"So he didn`t touch her?" Miss Mizuno asked, worried.  
  
"No, but she`s in shock." said Rei.  
  
"What kind of sick monster would do such a thing?" Miss Mizuno   
wondered.  
  
"That`s what we`d all like to know." said Laurella, clenching her   
fists tightly. She`d never felt anger like this before, but   
instictively knew that her friends surely felt it too. When she met   
that man, there would be hell to pay.  
  
* * *  
  
"So now we know where we`re going; Mercury is out of the picture   
already and I figured the best target for this morph spell I   
prepared." said Majestra Vortika to the knightmare sitting across   
her in her lab.  
  
Carefully polishing his battle axe, Ronmar was quite busy bringing   
back the golden luster to his favorite weapon that had been worn   
down by use and time.  
  
"That mind reader is making too much trouble. He`ll be the end of   
us." growled the knightmare.  
  
"Not as long as I`m here to bring focus to his agitated mind. Alone,   
he`s nothing and so are we. The triad has the power to overcome all   
obstacles, so together we will stand. After we triumph, we will have   
the freedom to go our own ways again." Vortika explained.  
  
Ronmar obviously disliked the man; Vortika once asked the first   
knightmare of the spheres what is the first thing he would like to   
acquire as a ruler of earth. "Demsy`s head on a lance." he had   
replied very seriously.  
  
"So tell me, Majestra, what do you intend to do about your fugitive   
vice-president?" Ronmar asked.  
  
Vortika thought the problem over and came to the conclusion that   
Demsy`s action could not hinder the operations of the agency. Though   
they were perfectly legal and were not directly part of Vortika`s   
plan, they still served the purpose of gathering the monetary   
ressources she needed to acquire the spells and artifacts her   
craft required.   
  
Demsy`s assault of a teenage girl could tarnish the agency`s   
reputation.   
  
She floated into her wheelchair and used her magic to transform her   
green elementalist`s robe into a high-class business suit.  
  
"I`ll hold a press conference to announce the agency`s decision to   
terminate mister Demsy`s career and offer a reward for any   
information leading to his capture." she announced.  
  
"A smoke screen, very appropriate." commented the knightmare.  
  
"I knew you`d appreciate the irony." she said with a smile.  
  
"Majestra, I was curious; if your magical tomes and objects weren`t   
so expensive to find and recover, would you still keep your business   
going?" asked Ronmar.  
  
"If I didn`t need so much money, you mean? I`d drop it all in a   
second."  
  
"I`d better leave as well, I have some work of my own." said Ronmar.  
  
"Be careful what route you take through the ventilation, the   
nineteenth floor staff has reported horrible odours, they think it`s   
from some dead vermin." commented Vortika.  
  
"I`ll take a detour through the empty storage rooms." assured Ronmar.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella watched the evening news and learned from Vortika`s press   
conference that Ami`s assaillant was the same man who negociated the   
agency`s security personnel deal with Hammer Corporation. She had   
met the man a few times and even though he seemed a bit strange, he   
was certainly not someone to impulsively molest young girls. This   
was really too weird to be tossed aside as irrelevant. The previous   
day, a monster had attacked a shopping mall in what looked like a   
random event and today a man with an untarnished reputation   
assaulted a sailor scout despite her secret identity.  
  
The scouts should look into this, she thought. She went to her dad`s   
computer and hacked in using the passwords she figured he might have   
chosen to protect his business files. The first word she punched in   
unlocked the password protection system.  
  
"LAURELLA? Come on, dad, can`t you be more creative?" she thought.  
  
While the information flowed on the computer screen, she picked a   
small cigarette pack from her jeans` back pocket and lit up one. Of   
all the self-destructive habits she picked up during her suicidal   
depression a few months ago, it was the only one she hadn`t been   
able to shake off, so she tried to cut down the best she could.   
With all these weird psychopaths trying to kill the scouts right   
now, she really needed to calm down somehow and pretty much gave up   
on her attempts to quit.  
  
* * *  
  
Around two o`clock that night, the Cherry Hill temple was a very   
silent place. Rei was sound asleep in her warm bed, dreaming of   
better days when no monsters haunted her life and she could be a   
normal girl enjoying the company of her friends.   
  
Vortika`s noiseless appearance in her room was proof that those   
days were gone. She floated there, hanging in the air like a helium   
balloon.  
  
"Sweet child, born of fire with a soul of flames; mirrors of the   
soul, unleash this child`s darker side!" she said, releasing the   
magical energies she had harnassed through hours of tireless   
meditation. The energies entered Rei`s body and began their evil   
work.  
  
Once the process was complete, Vortika vanished. Rei woke up   
suddenly, a cold chill down her spine. What was that all about?   
She felt fear, doubt and confusion invade her mind. Her muscles   
were stiff as well, painful to move.  
  
"I have to sleep in a better position, or else I`ll wake up with   
some awful cramps." she told herself, going right back to sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
In the japanese metropolis` industrial park, an old factory complex   
laid sleeping. It had done so for years, its owners having given up   
on the obsolete facilities ages ago. Or so it seemed. The beat-up   
exterior was no more than a cover for the interior, a hybrid of   
magic and technology. Hundreds of hours had been spent creating this   
decor without attracting any attention. For all the city officials   
knew, this was an old eyesore on some demolition company`s "to do   
someday, hopefully" waiting list.  
  
In one of the old offices refurnished as a bedroom, Coran Demsy   
was bidding his time until he was needed again in his allies`   
masterplan. He slept dreamlessly as the memories of his mind-read   
victims gave him more "dreams" than he ever wanted during his   
waking moments. His last victim`s thoughts were greatly disturbing   
as they triggered moral dilemmas for wich he clearly wasn`t   
prepared for. He hated having to drag along this excess baggage   
and would be relieved to get rid of some if he could.  
  
An unholy presence filled the dark room as a black putrid smoke   
cloud seeped in under the door. The monstrous stench woke up Psyche   
instantly while the dread lord of darkness reformed himself, looming   
over the mind reader in all his vileness. Psyche coughed violently   
on the nauseating vapors.  
  
"Did you really have to enter my room in THIS particular fashion?"   
he snapped at the knightmare.  
  
"No, not really." growled Ronmar.  
  
"Okay, then, tell me why you`re here."  
  
"Majestra wants you to be ready; we`re collecting our guests now and   
we`ll need you to guard them."  
  
"Finally, something to do! A man of my talents is NOT meant to be   
wasted doing nothing." complained Psyche.  
  
"Don`t flatter yourself, any idiot could do that." mocked the   
knightmare.  
  
"Not really, Majestra chose ME over you for the job!"  
  
"You`re lucky you don`t dream, little man, otherwise I`d give you   
nightmares that would make you cry like a young child in the dark."   
threatened the knightmare, his eyes glowing red through his visor.  
  
"Shut up and let me get dressed." snapped Psyche.  
  
Ronmar dissolved back in his noxious gas form and slipped out of the   
room under the door. Psyche coughed again like a bronchite stricken   
man.  
  
"USE THE (cough cough) DAMN DOORS!" screamed Demsy as loud as he   
could manage.  
  
The knightmare reformed outside the room and snickered under his   
helmet. He walked around the central area of the factory, turned   
for the occasion into a ritualistic setup. Carefully, he inspected   
the many instruments already in place for the power drained of the   
prisonners they would soon gather. A huge altar surrounded by six   
huge black granite slabs held the small talismans required to   
extract the scouts` energies. They wouldn`t cooperate, of course.   
That`s exactly why the slabs had resistant metal shackles.  
  
"How sweet must taste the energies of these young warriors, I`m   
almost impatient to consume them... almost." he thought.  
  
He then observed the altar in all of its details and dragged his   
hand along the smooth surface. Even through his heavy gauntlet,   
he could feel the numbing cold radiating from the evil stonework.   
The uniformity of the surface was breached only by a small engraving   
created to fit snugly the silver empirium crystal.  
  
"I have work to do now." he said, returning in his gaseous form and   
taking to the sky, blending in with the dark mass of night.  
  
Psyche came to the ritual area in time to see Ronmar leave, much to   
his pleasure.  
  
"I can`t believe I let Vortika talk me into working with that   
creature." he thought.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako was deeply asleep, warmly tucked under her hearts-covered   
sheets. Artemis slept on the floor, uncomfortable with the warm   
cotton that Minako liked so much. His little fur coat was definitely   
not adapted for summer nights. Lost in a beautiful dream, she smiled   
gently and moaned occasionaly. In her dreamworld, nothing could hurt   
her. Or so she believed. In her window, an ominous golden figure   
watched over her sleep. The first knightmare of the spheres had   
powers that could break the strongest will, bend the most resistant   
spirit without as much as making a sound.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako enjoyed the bright and hot sun at the beach, lying in the   
warm sand, her feet diping in the cool salt water. Her friends were   
there too, some distance away in a game of volleyball. Hum, her   
bikini wasn`t quite the right color- red just didn`t work for her.   
There, now it was a golden yellow. Much better. Now if she could   
only get a cold drink...a glass of iced tea found its way to her   
hand.   
  
Simply divine.  
  
Out of the sea, a huge beast came out roaring. The blue dragon   
screeched out of the waves and charged to the beach.  
  
No problem! Venus star power, make-up.  
  
Sailor Venus could take care of everything, and so could the other   
scouts who transformed in turn after her.  
  
* * *  
  
"Minako, snap out of it!" screamed Artemis at the sleepwalking girl.  
  
No use, she wouldn`t wake up. In all the years he had known her, she   
had never done anything even remotely like this; transforming during   
her sleep was certainly a vast step beyond in the field of   
sleepwalking, though not necessarily a good one. What was she doing?   
What could she be dreaming of that could get her to do this?!?  
  
* * *  
  
Something`s wrong, here, her Venus Crescent Beam should have   
dispatched the dragon as it always did before.  
  
The dragon swooped down on her friends and tore them to shreds.  
  
NO! It`s not possible, they can`t die, the scouts always win!  
  
The dragon went back to the waters, leaving the shocked Sailor Venus   
alone with her dead friends.  
  
Usagi, you can`t be dead, Crystal Tokyo will need you! Makoto, Rei,   
don`t leave me here alone! Laurella, Ami, please don`t die...  
  
A knight in golden armor came close to her, offering her some comfort.   
I can make the pain go away, he said, come with me so I can numb the   
sorrow.  
  
Yes, make the pain fade, numb it to nothingness...  
  
* * *  
  
Artemis could only watch and freak out as Sailor Venus walked in a   
trance into the night, holding the arm of Ronmar. He had to warn the   
other girls fast! He could go meet Luna at Usagi`s but Makoto`s was   
closer, and time was running out quicker than he ever could run   
himself.  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto woke up in a sleepy haze, Artemis knocking wildly in her   
bedroom window. She opened it and the white cat jumped in and told   
the whole story in a frenzied haste:  
  
"QuicklyougottawarntheothersMinakowaskidnappedbyaweirdknightinagold  
armorafewminutesagoI`mafraidfortherestofyougirlsI`llbetit`sthesame  
guyfromtheTomoemassacreyougottawarnLuna... "  
  
"Whoa, slow down!" she said, yawning a lot.  
  
"Minako`s gone! They`re on the move, we have to be ready to face   
them and rescue Minako!"  
  
"You`re right, I`ll call them right now." agreed Makoto.  
  
"Better start with Usagi, she`s so hard to wake up, it`ll give her   
a chance to meet us in time."  
  
* * *  
  
Psyche locked the shackles on the wrists of Sailor Venus. He had no   
idea how Ronmar did it, but the girl was still sleeping, lost in her   
dreams.  
  
He had to want to rule the earth very much to let himself be involved   
with the knightmare. This didn`t matter, however. The huge warrior   
would return to his home realm or whatever hell he crawled out from.   
Once the girls` power had been divided among the three of them. At   
that point, he`d never have to see him again. Good riddance, he   
thought.  
  
Vortika, on the other hand, he HAD to stay in touch with. This   
splendid teamwork that allowed the triad to work so well was her own   
working; no way would he ever work with the freak warrior if it   
wasn`t for her.  
  
* * *  
  
Ronmar entered the rape victim center in total silence, unhindered   
by the locks and steel doors that the humans built to keep intruders   
out. His next "guest" was treated here after Psyche`s assault on   
her. With ghostly silence despite his heavy armor, he walked down   
the corridors. He reached her room and opened the door and saw Ami   
sleeping in her bed. She was recovering well from the mental shock,   
although she had adamantly refused to remove her clothes to go to   
bed. She had also been given a small dose of tranquiliser to allow   
her to sleep.  
  
"Come with me, child, your ordeal is almost over. I promise you that   
death will be a painless release from existence" he whispered as he   
gently picked her up in his arms.  
  
He looked at her for a moment and softly brushed her hair. Ami moved   
in her sleep and cuddled to Ronmar, a peaceful smile gracing her   
lips. Why had Psyche hurt this sweet girl so needlessly? He   
regretted having to destroy her, but had no choice in the matter.   
Power was everything to him and her death was part of the price to   
pay.  
  
* * *  
  
Rei woke up from what had to be the worst night of her life, her   
body wracked by cramps that accompanied her awful headache. Her   
alarm clock kept ringing, so she figured she might as well turn it   
off. Wait a minute, that wasn`t her alarm clock but her communicator!   
She slipped on her shirt and boxers as she tried to figure where she   
left it last night. Her bathroom, of course.  
  
She went in and looked at the mirror as she picked up the small red   
transmitter.  
  
* * *  
  
Concentrating as much as he could on his early-in-the-morning-just-  
before-the-sunrise prayer, Yuuichiro jolted when he heard the   
terrible scream coming from Rei`s room. He ran in a hurry to find   
out why she was doing this. Barging in her room, he found that she   
left through the window after smashing her mirror. He saw the   
beeping transmitter and tried to turn it on. Usagi`s face appeared,   
looking rather surprised.  
  
"Yuuichiro? What are you doing with Rei`s commu... hem..."  
  
"I don`t have time to explain, Usagi. Like, something happened to   
her and I`ll go after her myself. You`ll have to do without her   
this time." he said.  
  
"Hum... alright, then, good luck." she said, signing off.  
  
Yuuichiro slipped the communicator in his back pocket and ran in   
Rei`s pursuit. He was hoping very much he could find her somehow,   
and fast.  
  
* * *  
  
"That`s weird, he didn`t seem surprised about Rei`s communicator or   
seeing me calling. Is it possible that... he knows?" asked Usagi.  
  
"I don`t know, it`s hard to say. It doesn`t matter much right now   
anyway." replied Makoto.  
  
"With Rei, Minako and Ami neutralized by our new nemesis, that   
doesn`t leave us much to go on." observed Laurella.  
  
"Maybe so, but you have to go anyway, who knows what these people   
are planning to do?" said Artemis.  
  
"Yes, Ami and Minako need your help! Transform, now!" ordered Luna.  
  
"Right! MOON CRYSTAL POWER... MAKE-UP!"  
  
"JUPITER STAR POWER... MAKE-UP!"  
  
"JENDRA STAR POWER... MAKE-UP"  
  
The trio was surrounded by blazing waves of light and thunder, their   
clothes fading in exchange of sailor scout uniforms.  
  
"Hum... where do we go from here? I mean, we don`t even know where   
they`re being held!" observed Usagi.  
  
"That`s not entirely true." said Laurella.  
  
"You know something, don`t you?" asked Luna.  
  
"Yep. Yesterday, I saw the press conference held by the agency   
announcing their intention to help bring the man who attacked Ami,   
their vice-president, to justice. From the moment the police   
released publicly the description of Coran Demsy to the press   
conference, that left them exactly fourteen minutes to recognize his   
description, decide to terminate his carreer and prepare the press   
conference. Pretty quick for corporate bureaucracy, don`t you   
think?" she explained.  
  
"Yes, so where does that leave us exactly?" asked Makoto.  
  
"I searched in my dad`s databanks about their recent activities; it   
turns out they have an old factory that`s been unused for years now-   
not very cost effective to maintain that kind of factory considering   
the taxes and all. It should have been demolished for years and is   
still standing to this day. If they were planning to do something   
out of public view, that`d be the place." continued Laurella.  
  
"Well, lead us on, Sailor Jendra, no time to lose!" said Makoto.  
  
* * *  
  
As Psyche secured the shackles on Mercury`s wrists, she gently woke   
up. She was beginning to recover and the shock was gone; the fear   
held on tight, however, when she realized WHO was holding her   
prisonner.  
  
"YOU AGAIN!" she screamed, waking up Venus with her loud shrieks.   
Minako and Ami tried to move, but were restrained by the short   
length of chain holding them onto their slabs. They could only   
sit up and look around at the strange decor.  
  
"Haven`t you done enough already? Haven`t you hurt me so much that   
you can consider your evil work done?!?" yelled Ami in unrepressed   
anger.  
  
"Mercury, where are we? Why are we chained like this?" asked Minako,   
nervous that she might not like the answer.  
  
"You think it`s been easy for me?" Psyche asked to Ami. "I have your   
memories stuck in my skull now! Do you know how it feels to remember   
things you`re not even sure happened to you or not?"  
  
Psyche realized this might be a good chance to confront her with the   
memories he got from his mind reading, forcing her to admit her most   
secret thoughts. This always brought him some relief as it allowed   
him to distance himself from the surplus thoughts his mind could   
hardly handle. He clung on to his sanity like a drowning man to a   
life preserver, and he felt a confrontation could help keep him   
afloat a while longer.  
  
"Tell me, Ami, why did you break up with the cute fortune-teller,   
Greg? He cared for you very much, after all." he asked her.  
  
"Why are you asking me this?" she wondered.  
  
"This is none of your business." said Minako.  
  
"Shut up and pay attention, there`s gonna be a test later." he   
snapped at Sailor Venus,  
  
"I don`t have to answer any of this." said Mercury.  
  
"That`s true, I guess, but that doesn`t matter anyway because I   
know the answer. Don`t you think your friend Minako would be   
interested to know? It concerns her too." Psyche said.  
  
"Please, don`t say this!" pleaded Ami.  
  
"I could keep quiet, but wouldn`t the weight of that secret crush   
you over time? How long are you planning to live with it without   
telling anyone?" said Psyche.  
  
"I can... I know I could..." Ami tried to argue.  
  
"You`re both going to die soon, this is your last chance to release   
this burden." he whispered to Ami. "Could you really allow yourself   
to die before you`ve had a chance to come clean?" whispered Psyche   
with his amazingly charming voice.  
  
His words were well chosen; Ami`s resolve to take her secret to the   
grave wavered into hesitation and further down into downright doubt.  
  
"Minako..." said Ami softly, "I broke up with Greg because I didn`t   
really love him. There is someone else who I gave my heart to,   
someone I love with all my being..."  
  
"And... who would that be?" asked Minako, afraid that Ami might be   
trying to say that...  
  
"I love you, Minako." whispered Ami.  
  
This exchange left Psyche`s mind a bit more stable- he`d be able to   
sleep more comfortably, at   
least.  
  
"You two obviously have a lot to talk about, so I`ll leave you to it.   
I don`t know about you, but I feel a lot better." said Psyche as he   
left the ritual area with a huge smile on his face.  
  
Ami began to cry silently. "I`m sorry, Minako, I just can`t help it."   
she appologized.  
  
"Don`t ever be sorry for being in love, whoever you might be   
attracted to..." said Minako, trying to reassure her friend.  
  
For all of Psyche`s cruel intentions, he`d actually done her a favor:   
by releasing herself of her heavy secret, her soul began to heal.  
  
* * *  
  
Yuuichiro had been on the trail of Rei for almost half an hour now.   
It had been surprisingly easy to follow her through the streets and   
alleys; not so much that she wanted to be found, but more that she   
didn`t even try to hide.  
  
He entered a small alley; it was filled with garbage cans and   
containers, most of wich having their contents spread over a rather   
wide area. Not the cleanest place he`d ever been to; not the nicest   
smelling either. The young apprentice heard a faint noise coming   
from the end of the alley- someone was crying, hiding between a   
container and the dead-end wall. He approached slowly, whatever   
had pushed Rei to run in the first place could get her to run again   
if he scared her.  
  
"Rei, is that you?" he asked softly.  
  
The crying stopped; a shadow moved behind the container, he was   
sure that was her.  
  
"Why did you run from the temple?" he asked her, moving closer.  
  
"Don`t come any closer, Yuuichiro!" she yelled in an authoritarian   
tone mellowed by sadness. He stopped moving forward.  
  
"You don`t need to run, I can help you! Your friends will always be   
there for you!" he said.  
  
He moved a bit closer, he could almost see her.  
  
"STOP! I forbid you to come here!" she desperatly yelled.  
  
"No, Rei, I`m not going to just stay away while you`re hurting. I`m   
your friend and I care for you more than you can imagine. I`ll be   
there for you, I promise." he said.  
  
There was a few moments of silence, then she replied hesitantly.  
  
"You can come, but... promise me... you won`t scream."  
  
"I promise."  
  
He walked closer and saw Rei; at least he thought it was her. Her   
skin had been somehow replaced with dark green snakelike scales. Her   
eyes were now a repulsive shade of yellow and her fingers now had   
claws instead of nails. Sharp fangs protuded from her mouth,   
completing this horrid shapechange. The instant he saw her, she   
began sobbing hopelessly.  
  
"I`m not human anymore." she said through her tears.  
  
"Who... what did this to you?"   
  
"I don`t know, I woke up and saw myself in the mirror like... this!"   
she said, showing her hands as evidence to her sad story. "I`m a   
monster now, like those Sailor Moon destroys. She`ll probably come   
after me next!"  
  
"It doesn`t matter to me, Rei, I`m still your friend and I`ll do   
everything I can to help you. Sailor Moon is also your friend and   
she won`t let you down."  
  
"What do you mean? Sailor Moon, my friend?"  
  
"I know your secret, Rei... I know you`re Sailor Mars. Last year   
when that whacko cat girl attacked the temple, I saw you transform   
before I fainted. I never told you about it because I knew how hard   
you tried to keep me and your grandpa away from your fight against   
evil." Yuuichiro explained.  
  
"So why did you put up with me all these months, despite the hell   
I put you through?" Rei asked.  
  
"Because I`ve been in love with you from the first moment you looked   
at me." he said with a smile.  
  
Rei was touched by the feelings of this sweet, honest, caring man.   
She wanted to be strong so much, always insisting on being   
independant, that she forgot to listen to her heart. She hugged him   
and found his embrace comforting. Despite her hideous appearance, he   
didn`t seem repulsed by her contact. A warm flood of emotion filled   
her heart; her skin tingled, too.  
  
Her skin tingled?  
  
No longer being subject to self-doubt, her form began to change once   
again. Her boost in confidance was restoring her human appearance at   
a steady rate; Rei realized that her own negative thoughts had been   
dictating her form. The more she hated herself, the worse her shape   
degraded. Now, with the help and love of Yuuichiro, her claws were   
retracting, her skin softening and her eyes regained their real   
color.  
  
No magic could ever be stronger than true love.  
  
* * *  
  
Ronmar joined Vortika in the seemingly abandonned factory, reporting   
on his progress.  
  
"Mercury and Venus were easy to collect and are held in place, ready   
for the ritual. Mars, however, was nowhere to be found. Judging from   
what she did to her mirror, the morphing spell caught her at the   
lowest of her self confidance, with no chance of increasing now.   
She`s become no more than a stray, scared girl. If we can find her,   
picking her up will be a simple matter." explained the knightmare.  
  
"It doesn`t matter if we find her or not. Five scouts or six, our   
power will be great either way; Mars`disappearing act is of no   
consequence. The other three should be here soon, they have a way   
of finding their enemies wherever they are. " said Vortika.  
  
"With a leader who can`t lead, a fighter who doesn`t think and an   
inexperienced recruit, they don`t stand a chance against the first   
knightmare of the spheres." bragged the dread lord of darkness.  
  
They looked at their two guests. Both had been crying and were sunk   
deep in sadness.  
  
"My guess is Psyche forced her to admit her biggest secrets to   
alleviate his own anguish." observed Vortika.  
  
"Maybe now he won`t be such a pain in my armor joints... but I   
wouldn`t count on it." said Ronmar.  
  
"The scouts will be here soon, prepare for an assault at any   
moment."   
  
"I`m always ready for a fight, you know that. Just be ready to   
extract their energies once I bring them in."  
  
"Psyche will be standing by to neutralize any one of them you can`t   
handle, should they prove too powerful." said Vortika. Ronmar let   
out a deep growl of rage.  
  
"Have I ever lost a fight before? That miserable mind leech better   
not get close to me in combat, I might strike him down... by   
accident, of course." angrily grunted the knightmare.  
  
"Of course." Vortika replied.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella, Usagi and Makoto watched the sun climbing the sky as a new   
day began in Tokyo. The old Sunfire factory shined in the distance.   
This bright new day might be the last one of the sailor scouts,   
three of its own out of action already.  
  
"I`m afraid for my friends as well as for my life." said Laurella.  
  
"Same here. My stomach`s twisted in a knot." said Makoto.  
  
"What really scares me is that Mamoru hasn`t remembered he`s Tuxedo   
Kamen yet; if this fight goes bad for us, we can`t count on him   
showing up to turn the battle around." said Usagi.  
  
"It`s a chance we have to take, isn`t it?" asked Laurella, not   
really expecting an answer.  
  
They rushed over to the factory, ready to fight for their friends`   
lives.  
  
* * *  
  
"They`re here." said Vortika, looking in a small vision crystal.  
  
"Good. I`m ready for their arrival." growled Ronmar.  
  
"So am I." replied Vortika.  
  
* * *  
  
The sailor scout trio searched for a way to enter the abandonned   
factory, unsure where to look first. The windows had been boarded   
shut and blasting their way in would undoubtedly attract attention.   
A small unlocked service entrance door provided access to what   
looked like a machinery room. The lack of any light from both the   
burned out electric system and the boarded windows made their   
progression difficult; they bumped into machinery with each step   
they took.  
  
"I can`t see where I`m going!" complained Makoto.  
  
"It`s not my fault if the front entrance was such an obvious TRAP   
that we had to avoid." replied Usagi.  
  
"This should help." said Laurella, shooting in the air a small   
floating globe of light. Its color shifted constantly through all   
the rainbow colors and partially restored sight to all.  
  
"Nice." commented Usagi.  
  
A terrible stench filled the air, nauseating the girls who never   
smelled ANYTHING so monstrously vile in their lives.  
  
"What`s that smell? Did something DIE in here?" asked Makoto,   
unaware of the powerful knightmare reforming right behind her.   
  
Ronmar hit Sailor Jupiter in the back of the head with his armored   
fist, knocking her out instantly.  
  
"Not yet, child." he whispered, thus revealing himself to the other   
two fighters.  
  
Sailor Moon and Jendra froze in fear for a second, frightened by the   
dread lord of darkness. They quickly came to, preparing to defend   
themselves from this unholy warrior.   
  
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!"  
  
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"  
  
The girls did not anticipate the knightmare`s enhanced abilities   
brought by the room`s darkness. Ronmar lifted his hand and molded   
darkness itself into a large shield that easily deflected the   
glowing disk and dissolved into nothing the multicolored blast of   
blinding light.  
  
"How can we defeat this monster?" asked Laurella.  
  
"You don`t." growled Ronmar, his eyes glowing red underneath his   
visor.  
  
Moving faster than anyone might imagine possible for a man in full   
battle armor, he charged Sailor Jendra whom he punched in the   
stomach and in the face. She went down like a inanimate rag doll.  
  
Sailor Moon retrieved her tiara and prepared to launch it at him   
again; Ronmar, however, had picked up both unconscious scouts by   
their necks and looked straight at her.  
  
"Surrender or be responsible for both of their deaths." he told   
her.  
  
"All right... you win." replied sadly Sailor Moon, dropping her   
tiara to the ground. It stopped glowing and retrieved its normal   
form on impact.  
  
"Clever girl." he said. His eyes glowed wickedly in what could be   
approximated as a smile of sorts.  
  
* * *  
  
An oppressing darkness bathed the ritual site as Vortika set up the   
final preparations for the power transfer ceremony. She ripped   
Sailor Moon`s brooch, reverting her back to Usagi.  
  
"I`ll need this now." she said, admiring the delicately crafted   
brooch.  
  
"I`m sorry, I failed you all." appologized Usagi to her immobilized   
friends.  
  
"If we weren`t all chained up, we`d beat you to a pulp, old witch!"   
screamed Makoto.  
  
"But you are, so I win." said Vortika.  
  
"We all do." added Psyche.  
  
Deep down inside, Usagi was praying for a miracle. Even if Mars   
showed up, what chance would she have now? Vortika removed the   
silver crystal from the brooch and placed it in the altar`s central   
engraving.  
  
"Shouldn`t we wait until we have all six girls?" asked Psyche.  
  
"We don`t have time. If we are to proceed, we need the correct star   
alignment. We must begin now. Five scouts will work just as well as   
six." told Vortika.  
  
Ronmar moved in closer to receive the energies that would soon be   
drained. Vortika activated the crystal with slow gestures and   
incomprehensible words of an unknown language.  
  
This is it, Usagi thought, we`re going to die.  
  
As it radiated a dark, evil light, the crystal extracted a steady   
flow of energy from the girls that infused Vortika, Psyche and   
Ronmar.   
  
"It`s working... IT`S WORKING!!!" yelled Psyche.  
  
"Power, glorious power!" said Ronmar with excitment.  
  
This is my death on the moon kingdom all over again, thought   
Laurella.  
  
"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" screamed a voice within the surrounding darkness.   
Although no one could see quite clearly, it was obviously Sailor   
Mars. When she came in visual range, Vortika couldn`t believe her   
eyes; she had beaten the morphing spell.  
  
"You`re stronger than you seem, Mars, and so are we." said Psyche.   
He pulled down his shades, revealing his energy filled eyes. Silver   
beams shot out of his eyes, barely missing Rei. The explosion   
knocked her down, making her easy prey for the all powerful Ronmar   
who grabbed her and brought her to the empty slab. The stolen   
energy infused in the knightmare surged through his hands, severely   
shocking Mars as she was being brought to the sixth slab.  
  
This time it`s truly over, she thought, Tuxedo Kamen wouldn`t be   
there and all was lost.  
  
Then it happened.  
  
Out of the darkness, a beam of pure primordial energy soared through   
the air and connected to the glowing silver crystal. The raw Technum   
reverberated along the artificial powerlines created to drain the   
scouts, thus melting the chains, revitalizing the weakened scouts   
and removing the stolen energy form the triad.  
  
"Who... what did this?" asked Minako.  
  
"No time to find out now, we`ve got a fight on our hands!" said   
Makoto.  
  
Usagi ran for the crystal, so did Vortika. They began fighting over   
it angrily, Usagi clearly overpowering the physically feeble   
elementalist. The scouts fought Ronmar with every ounce of strenght   
they possessed. After removing forcefuly her crystal from the   
sorceress`s hands, she placed it back in her brooch and transformed   
back to Sailor Moon in radiant light that pierced the magical   
shadows.  
  
Feeling the fight turning sour, Psyche kept behind Vortika; he knew   
she`d have some trick up her sleeve to give the triad the upper hand.   
Surely enough, she began casting a strong tornado spell a hundred   
times more powerful than the cantrip that held her hung in the air.   
The scouts who managed to stand up replied immediately with a   
thundrous assault of their own.  
  
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"  
  
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"  
  
"BURNING MANDALA!"  
  
The spell was not sufficient to deter the combined powers of the   
three scouts; Vortika`s magic backfired from the attack and consumed   
her own body. The price of magic is always high, and this time   
Majestra couldn`t afford it. Psyche was blown back and lost his   
shades as he fell down hardly. The out of control magic reduced the   
once powerful Majestra Vortika into smoking ash.  
  
Sailor Moon was now ready to put an end to this madness; she pulled   
her scepter from a pocket subdimension where she stored it between   
battles. She looked at the dread lord of darkness who had lost much   
power in the bright light.  
  
"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"  
  
The bright flash of energy struck Ronmar and he screamed as he   
dissolved into a putrid black puddle on the ground.  
  
Laurella, seeing Psyche laid down on the ground, went to him, glad   
to put the man behind bars at last. She grabbed him by the collar,   
but didn`t realize that his power worked through simple eye contact.  
  
"What`s your straightjacket size, girl?" he asked Laurella as he   
gazed straight in her eyes and into her mind.  
  
He wasn`t just trying to drag information out, this time. In his   
rage, he simply wanted to do a lot of damage. Laurella had seen much   
darkness in her days, though. You want to see horror, you`ll get it,   
she thought.  
  
Psyche witnessed the memories of Laurella, her despair and   
hopelessness as she believed that her life had become so empty that   
it wasn`t worth living anymore. He saw her enter her home`s bathroom   
and search frantically for the one item she thought could end her   
suffering. He saw her pick up her dad`s razor blade, press it   
against her wrist and.. and...  
  
"AAAAAAARRRRGHHH!!!!" frantically screamed Psyche, grasping his  
wrists to cease the hemorrage that existed only in his mind. Too   
many stolen memories, too many false thoughts. His mind finally   
snapped like a fragile twig, propelling down into the downward   
spiral of madness. His mind destroyed, his mental power was   
snuffed out.  
  
"We won, let`s dump him in the police`s care and leave." said   
Sailor Moon.  
  
Everyone agreed.  
  
Hidden in a corner, the man responsible for turning around the   
situation for the scouts felt good about himself. His only regret   
was not seeing who Sailor Moon was before she transformed; the   
dark mists prevented him from finally learning her identity. He   
slipped away discreetly, feeling confidant he`d meet with the   
scouts very soon.  
  
* * *  
  
An hour after they had all left, the black puddle reformed back into   
the dread lord of darkness. He had fooled the scouts this time and   
he`d live to fight them another day.  
  
"I`m not going down with a sinking ship." he told himself, leaving   
the Sunfire factory and never returning to the Sunforce plaza.  
  
There might have been a time when he would have found honor and   
pride in fighting impossible odds to the bitter end, but those   
days were long gone. He needed to think of a new plan, a better   
strategy.  
  
* * *  
  
"Are you sure the energy blast was Technum?" asked Usagi to Rei.  
  
"Certain. It felt just like Technuma Saturn`s presence, charged   
with power strong enough to create life or destroy it, familiar   
even, in a strange way." she described.  
  
"Didn`t Technuma Saturn tell you the guardians were all dead?"   
wondered Luna.  
  
"I`m not sure anymore. Maybe Technuma lied to me for some reason."   
said Rei.  
  
"Maybe they were reborn, like us." said Minako.  
  
"Psyche looks good in a straightjacket, doesn`t he?" commented   
Makoto.  
  
"He messed with the wrong mind, he paid the price." observed   
Laurella. She felt avenged for destroying the mind of Demsy,   
although she swore to herself that she`d never forgive him.  
  
Ami lifted her head and made subtle eye contact with Minako for   
the first time since the defeat of the triad earlier that morning.   
Her eyes said "I need to talk to you". Almost an entire day had   
passed and she still hadn`t said a word. The girls assumed this   
was because of the strain Psyche had put on her the previous day;   
she was all right, though, and was keeping quiet for another   
reason. She left Rei`s house to "take a short stroll on the temple   
grounds". A minute later, Minako made up some excuse about needing   
some air and left as well.  
  
As Minako left, Yuuichiro entered the scouts`meeting.  
  
"Hiya girls, just came back to give this back to Rei, I forgot to   
when I found her this morning." he said, handing Rei her   
communicator.  
  
They froze an instant, but Rei reassured them.  
  
"It`s all right, he knows. He`s known for quite a while and never   
said a word; we can trust him." she said, taking back her small   
transmitter.  
  
"I betcha you girls have a lot of serious world-saving business to   
talk over or some monster to hunt or something, so I`ll just go."   
he said.  
  
She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him down next to her.  
  
"Please don`t go. You were there when I needed you most even though   
I`ve always pushed you away. You also reminded me I can`t carry the   
world on my shoulders. I`ve been trying to be strong by myself so   
much that I forgot to listen to my heart " she said, placing her   
arms around his shoulders. "I need you."  
  
She kissed him right in front of the other scouts. She didn`t give   
a damn that they knew.  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting under a tree, Ami was staring at the cloudless sky; she   
seemed embarassed at her earlier declarations. Minako sat down   
beside her and came out directly to the point.  
  
"How could you keep something so big bottled up inside?" asked   
Minako.  
  
"I guess that I buried it so deep that I made myself forget..."   
said Ami who blushed. "...besides, what would you have said if I   
had spoken out?" she asked.  
  
"I`m not sure, really."  
  
"There`s more than just that, actually." admitted Ami. "Mom, for   
starters. She doesn`t show it, but I know she can`t wait until I   
fall in love with the man of my dreams, get married and have   
children of my own."  
  
Man of her dreams; these words sounded so devoid of meaning, all   
of a sudden. Like one of those polite made-up expressions everyone   
expects you to blurt out in social situations even if you don`t   
agree with them..  
  
"You`re afraid of not living up to her expectations." said Minako.  
  
"Yeah. And society`s, too. People would be staring at me like they   
do to Michiru and Haruka. I understand them, now, even envy their   
lack of concern over it. They just love each other, people be   
damned." said Ami, smiling.  
  
"So, I take it you don`t want the others to know?"  
  
"No. Not yet, anyway."  
  
"Don`t worry, I`ll keep my mouth shut." said Minako. She smiled and   
placed a sweet, peach flavored kiss on Ami`s lips. "It`ll be our   
little secret." she added, hugging Ami tenderly.  
  
Some love stories unfold for all to see while others are condemned   
to stay in the shadows of secrecy. It matters not wich choices you   
make in life, you must simply be able to live with the consequences   
once those choices are made.  
  
  
The End  
  
* * *  
  
Here`s something I feel I should have done a long time ago:  
  
LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO  
  
Sailor Moon, tuxedo Kamen and other characters depicted in this   
story (except for those of my creation such as Sailor Jendra and   
the triad) are the trademarks of Naoko Takeuchi, DIC, KEI   
entertainment and many more people involved with the Sailor Moon   
manga and television show.  
  
The use of these characters in this story does not construde as a   
challenge to such status, nor is it an attempt to make money by   
leeching off someone else`s ideas (I`m not making a cent, here!)  



	8. Tearful Goodbyes

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
Before I begin telling my next story, I feel strongly that you   
should be warned about its contents. This story deals with   
something dark and mysterious that awaits everyone of us, whether   
we like it or not.  
  
Death.  
  
The final, greatest mystery of existence, it has scared and   
fascinated humanity for eons, giving birth to myths and beliefs   
as varied as the individuals whose lives it affects.  
  
When we write, we create an alternate reality that exists in our   
own mind and in the minds of all those who read our stories,   
making us into some sort of supreme being to that very reality.   
We shape it as we see fit, adding or removing details the way we   
think works best for us. I feel that death is a natural part of   
life and is the link that completes the wheel of existence,   
allowing it to turn one more time each cycle.  
  
Someone from my alternate universe will die today, someone you might   
be very attached to or not care at all about. It all depends on your   
personal preferences. That character has a special significance for   
me and its death will cause much grief for those left behind. If you   
feel like exploring death and perhaps come one step closer to   
understanding it, I invite you to come along with me on my mental   
landscape to meet with a very special girl who just lost someone   
very close to her.  
  
Won`t you give Usagi a shoulder to cry on?  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 8  
  
TEARFUL GOODBYES  
  
  
Once every month like clockwork, the night sky of Tokyo is graced by   
the appearance of the full moon. Tonight was one of those occasions,   
though this time it was not the bright, living moon that inspired   
poets and musicians. It was a crimson disk red as blood, a fitting   
end to the tragic events of the past few days.  
  
The sailor scouts have fought seemingly endless hordes of misshapen   
monsters over the years, triumphing over impossible odds a hundred   
times over. It was only a matter of time before the numbers finally   
got the better of them.  
  
How long can anyone run from the cold clutches of death and live to   
tell about it?  
  
Alone in a deserted funeral parlor, Usagi sat in the same chair   
she had been during the eulogy to her dear departed friend. Although   
it had been wonderfully written and had moved the entire audience,   
the grief stricken girl could not remember a single word. She just   
sat there, staring at the closed coffin and wanted to cry some more,   
but she couldn`t. The constant flow of tears of the past two days   
was burning her eyes now and she couldn`t take it.  
  
Usagi knew she`d have to let go of her friend, but the pain kept   
growing with each passing moment. She thought of how this tragedy   
started and wondered why nobody saw it coming. In retrospect, it   
was INEVITABLE.  
  
* * *  
  
"I REFUSE! NO WAY, NO HOW! NO, NEIN, NON, IX-NAY ON THE YES PART!"   
yelled Makoto in total objection to Usagi`s suggestion.  
  
"It`s only a dentist`s appointment." said Usagi.  
  
"Yeah, it`s not the end of the world or anything." added Naru.  
  
"To YOU, maybe." said Makoto with her "touch me and you`ll get   
hurt" look.  
  
"Come on, now, the dentist never killed anyone!" argued Usagi.  
  
"So why should I risk being first?" replied Makoto.  
  
Ami and Luna observed the discussion as somewhat of a tennis match.   
The black cat couldn`t speak up in Naru`s presence, but Ami could   
easily guess what she would have liked to say.  
  
"They`re right, you know. Your teeth are precious, especially since   
you want to be a chef and own a restaurant." commented Ami.  
  
"Last time I went, I couldn`t chew crunchy food for a week." said   
Makoto, cringing her teeth in imaginary pain.  
  
"You`re going to the dentist if we have to CHAIN you into his   
chair!" ordered Usagi.  
  
"Service, match point, advantage Usagi..." thought Luna.  
  
Umino opened Usagi`s bedroom door and looked at the escalating   
conflict. His sweetheart was there and he smiled.  
  
"Hi, darling, Usagi`s mom told me you were up here studying with   
your friends for the big exam." he said, refering to the test that w  
ould determine every students` chances of entering the most   
prestigious colleges and universities. Failure to this test was   
considered very shameful; the girls were preparing very hard their   
exam that was less than a month away.  
  
Even Usagi was surprising everyone wth a newfound determination that   
took its origin mostly out of her love for Mamoru whom she did not   
want to embarass when they would get married. That`s how she saw her   
future, as the best wife in the world for the greatest man in the   
universe.  
  
Umino`s sudden arrival had a calming effect on the argument which   
went up in smoke.  
  
"All right, I`ll go, I don`t want to lose all my teeth." conceded   
Makoto.  
  
"Game, set and match for Usagi." thought Luna.  
  
"Better bring the locks and chains anyway." whispered Usagi to Naru   
who nodded in agreement.  
  
* * *  
  
Far from the worries and occupations of humans, a monstrous being   
waited for his moment to come. Totally immobile like an old statue,   
the creature in golden armor sat on a crude granite throne deep   
inside a hidden fortress black as his evil heart. He brooded and   
sulked, counting the hours that went by since his defeat at the   
hands of the wretched girls called the sailor scouts a week   
earlier.  
  
Ronmar, dread lord of darkness, first knightmare of the spheres,   
had made a mistake. He had trusted a puny elementalist and a pathetic   
mind reader to ensure his gathering of power. He knew better than   
that, now. When you want something done right, you have to do it   
yourself. His wife was sending him all the troops he needed to exact   
his revenge and he would soon receive them. She didn`t quite   
understand this obsession of his, trying to crush a few miserable   
natives of a small backwater world from the first sphere, but she   
respected it nonetheless and gave him the support he required.  
  
A small portal from the tenth sphere opened inside the huge throne   
room, filling the place with the offensive stench of pure corruption.   
Ronmar smiled. A black noxious smoke hung over the floor, cloaking   
in opaque darkness anything below knee level. From the toxic vapors   
slowly rose a contingent of evil knights dressed in bronze battle   
armors. The elite fighters of the tenth sphere, the knightmares of   
Changraloor, had arrived.  
  
"Vengence will be mine." he growled, speaking for the first time   
in a week.  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru, dressed all in black to match his girlfriend`s dress, came   
up to her and tried to console her as best he could.  
  
"Come on, meatball head, you have to forgive yourself. It wasn`t your   
fault." he whispered in her ear.  
  
"I was there and I didn`t do anything. Sailor Moon failed... I   
failed, and now... she`s... dead!" said Usagi, sobbing as she   
completed her sentence.  
  
Mamoru looked at the coffin and felt his heart sink. That might have   
been someone else in there, even his precious Usagi, but no. It was   
HER. She didn`t deserve that fate, he thought, shedding a few tears   
along with Usagi.  
  
* * *  
  
Everyone went back home, content of the study session. Usagi was   
surprising her friends lately by actually studying! Well, not as   
much as the others, but it was clear she was trying her best.  
  
It`s a this point that things took a wrong turn. Ronmar wanted   
vengence more than anything and decided he needed some bait to   
attract his prey.  
  
Naru left Umino who lived in another part of the neighbourhood and   
continued on her way home, an appartment above her mother`s "Osa-P"   
shop a few blocks away.  
  
"What`s that awful smell?" she wondered.  
  
She looked around for the source of the stench. Seeing nothing, she   
decided to ignore it. Suddenly, black shapes materialized around her   
into humanoid forms. The instant their real form was discernable, a   
bronze color covered them to complete the appearance of the elite   
knightmares.  
  
"Am I a monster magnet or something?" she wondered.  
  
Before she could scream for help, they grabbed and gagged her. A few   
seconds later, they had vanished as if nothing had happened. Not a   
trace was left behind.  
  
Ronmar remembered what he had learned of the scouts through Psyche`s   
mental assault on Ami. He knew exactly who to capture to attract the   
attention of the scouts and manipulate them to his advantage. Naru   
had been the first to become his hostage, with more to follow.  
  
* * *  
  
Wearing their most solemn clothes, Makoto and Rei entered the   
funeral parlor with great concern showing in their faces. They   
walked to Usagi and Mamoru. They did their best to be strong for   
her, not letting their own grief show.  
  
"Usagi, you haven`t slept in the last two nights. Go home and get   
some rest." said Rei.  
  
"You`ll need your strenght for the funeral tomorrow. Stop blaming   
yourself, it wasn`t your fault." said Makoto.  
  
Usagi wished everyone would stop saying that. How could it NOT be   
her fault? That dark spear was aimed at Sailor Moon, but SHE took   
it in her place.  
  
Life can be so damn cruel sometimes...  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto opened the door to her empty appartment. The place looked so   
sad, she thought, with no one waiting for her. It seemed so easy for   
Usagi, Naru and Rei. They had great guys in their lives, caring and   
sensitive. Laurella was in love too. Even though the guy she was   
hung up on died a millenium ago and she saw him only in her dreams,   
she still felt that warm sensation that made life worth living.  
  
Ami and Minako were something special too. They had both lost their   
boyfriends, Greg and Jedite, and looked all right now. Of course,   
they overcompensated with those extra long study sessions of theirs,   
but seemed to find in each other`s company the strenght to avoid   
thinking about the fact that they didn`t have a boyfriend. The pain   
they shared made them feel closer to each other somehow, she thought.   
Their friendship had... something more, something she couldn`t quite   
put her finger on.  
  
The phone rang at that moment, interrupting her train of thought. It   
was Naru`s mother, wondering if her daughter had come to her place   
after the study session. It was getting pretty late and should have   
been back by now.  
  
While Makoto was on the phone, Rei noticed her grandfather had   
vanished without a trace.   
  
So had the mothers of Ami and Minako as well as Makoto`s friend   
Cassidy Carter.  
  
* * *  
  
The shining sun that had utterly failed to brighten Usagi`s miserable   
day had left its place to the ominous blood moon since she had entered   
the funaral parlor a few hours ago, but Usagi barely noticed the   
difference. Relying on Mamoru to guide her home, she floated in a   
deep trance, unconsciously trying to avoid facing reality. Waiting   
just outside for her, Minako was holding back her tears. She looked   
Usagi in the eyes and silently hugged her to mean "I`m here for   
you". Ami stood there as well, uncomfortable in dealing with such   
emotions as grief and sorrow. If she couldn`t express herself, she`d   
at least be there for Usagi who felt guilty so unnecessarily.  
  
* * *  
  
"My mother`s gone!" screamed Ami in her communicator.  
  
"Calm down, Ami, we`ll find her and grandpa too!" said Rei. "The   
others should kow about this right now, let`s call them up."  
  
It took less than ten minutes before all six scouts were at the   
temple, fully aware that five people close to them had vanished,   
most likely kidnapped.  
  
"Who could be behind this?" they wondered.  
  
Like an omen of death, an image appeared, oppressing and dreadful   
in its significance. Ronmar`s image was there to deliver an   
ultimatum to the sailor scouts.  
  
"Good evening, ladies. It appears that you are much more powerful   
than I gave you credit for on our last encounter, which I survived.   
I decided to even things out! I invited five of your closest friends   
and family members and expect you`ll be coming to deliver them...   
or else." he growled.  
  
"MONSTER!" yelled Usagi.  
  
"Flattery will get you flattened, Sailor Moon. Oh, did I mention   
that I know your secret identities and will continue hunting down   
those around you after I kill those I hold captive right now? If   
you don`t show up by midnight, their blood will stain the ground.   
I feel it`s only fair to tell you where to look: Mars`s grandfather   
and Venus`s mother are held in the abandonned Club Crystal,   
Mercury`s mother and Jupiter`s friend are at the crossroads school   
while young Miss Osaka Naru is held in the public park close by.   
Hurry up, midnight is going to be here soon..."  
  
His image disappeared into thin air.  
  
"I thought he was dead!" said Usagi.  
  
"We all did." said Minako.  
  
"He knows we`re a strong team. He`s obviously trying to split us   
up." observed Rei.  
  
"Do we really have a choice?" asked Ami.  
  
"No, we don`t, and for sure he`s counting on that." said Laurella.  
  
"How come he doesn`t hold anyone from Laurella`s family?" wondered   
Usagi.  
  
"He`s using information extracted by Psyche out of my head. I didn`t   
know much about Laurella`s loved ones at the time... she might be the   
edge that we need to triumph." explained Ami.  
  
"That`s right. He`s holding his hostages so that we show up in   
pairs... except Usagi, whom he expects to show up alone. No doubt   
he`s planning to go after Sailor Moon. That`s settled, I`m going   
with her!" said Laurella.  
  
So they left to fight this evil that was Ronmar, unaware that death   
was close by, awaiting his next victim.  
  
* * *  
  
Ikuko and Kenji Tsukino were very worried about their daughter. She   
was taking this very hard,blaming herself for events that, in their   
view, she had no control over.  
  
"Thank you for bringing her home, Mamoru" said Ikuko, grateful for   
his support in this tragedy.  
  
"I really appreciate all you`ve done for our daughter." added Kenji.   
He was seeing this man in a whole new light ever since he risked his   
life to defend Usagi from that crazy plastic monster in the hospital.   
He originaly thought him responsible for his daughter`s near fatal   
alcohol poisoning, but realized since then that he really helped her   
get over this sad chapter of her life.  
  
Oblivious to all of the events around her, Usagi held on tight to   
the smal silver bracelet in her hands. SHE was wearing it only three   
days before, it belonged to HER. "She would have wanted you to have   
it, Usagi, she said you made a great difference in her life" her   
mother said at the morgue where they had to positively identify her   
body.  
  
So cold and lifeless on the metal slab, covered with dried blood,   
this wasn`t her friend she saw, but a dead corpse devoid of the   
warm spirit that made her such a wonderful human being. How could   
her mother be so... peaceful at the sight of her only child laid   
out on the morgue`s shining slab? The impact of her death hadn`t   
struck her yet. Once it did, the effects would be horribly   
devastating.  
  
* * *  
  
The park was deserted of any innocent bystanders. Good. No one would   
get needlessly hurt.  
  
"This time we must get him, for good!" whispered Sailor Jendra.  
  
"I`d like to, but Naru is more important. She`s the reason we`re   
here to fight whatever trap Ronmar has set up." replied Sailor Moon.  
  
"So where is she?" asked Jendra.  
  
"Help me!" yelled Naru from a distance.  
  
"That answers that question." said Moon.  
  
They found her all right. Surrounded by a trio of knightmares in   
bronze armors, armed with sharp two-handed swords.  
  
"Watch out, Sailor Moon, it`s a trap!" Naru screamed.  
  
From a dark, stinking cloud at their feet, twenty more knightmares   
appeared all around the female warriors.  
  
This fight would be terrible. She also feared for her friends who   
surely faced the same menace they did.  
  
* * *  
  
Luna cuddled up to Usagi who vainly tried to get some sleep. The   
funeral in the morning was sure to be difficult for her, and she   
badly needed some rest she couldn`t get.  
  
"I failed, Luna." she murmured.  
  
"Sometimes people go away, Usagi, you must learn to let them go.   
If you are to be queen of crystal Tokyo in a thousand years, you   
will see many of those around you wither and die. I understand she   
was much too young, but it doesn`t change anything. The best you   
can do for her is accept her death and live out your life to its   
fullest. You know she would have wanted you to." said Luna.  
  
"I guess..." said Usagi.  
  
She looked at her hands, wich had been covered with her friend`s   
blood as she carried her to a hospital in vain. The blood had   
washed off easily enough, although Usagi could still feel it,   
sticky and dirty. This feeling was likely to linger for the rest   
of her life.  
  
* * *  
  
The frightened Naru held herself in a crouched, protective position   
and let out a blood curdling scream as the bronze soldiers clashed   
with the two scouts. They fought valiantly, holding back the assault   
admirably until they were in a position to use their powers to their   
fullest potential.  
  
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!"  
  
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"  
  
Three knightmares turned into sparkling dust, destroyed by the   
glowing disk and the multicolored light beam. The others slowed   
down a second, hesitating. They charged forward nonetheless.  
  
"PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!"  
  
Seven sharp boomerangs of all rainbow colors flew all over, cutting   
down seven knightmares unable to dodge the unpredictable projectiles.   
Unlike Ronmar, these warriors weren`t fast enough to dissolve out of   
the way of the scouts` attacks. Sailor Moon, driven into a battle   
frenzy she never felt before, fought furiously the overwhelmed   
knightmares with her mighty kicks, neutralizing many of them into   
submission.  
  
Sailor Jendra screamed and fell down behind her; she had been   
blindsided and cut deep at the waist. In a flash, Sailor Moon pulled   
her scepter.  
  
"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"  
  
The offending warrior was turned to harmless dust in a second. No   
one hurts her friends and gets away with it. The last knightmare   
eliminated, she went to see how bad Sailor Jendra`s wound was. She   
never realized that, at some distance behind her, Ronmar was   
reforming. He held in his hand a spear made out of burning cold   
dark energy. In a thousand years of use of these horrid weapons,   
no one had ever survived their lethal sting.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi read again the letter Laurella had sent her from the   
hospital. Her wound kept her from being there at the funeral,   
but was healing nicely. She`d be out in a few days at most.   
Laurella regretted very much not being there and offered her   
deepest and heartfelt condoleances. She also said that she didn`t   
have much time to get to know her as well as Usagi did, but wished   
she would have.  
  
In helpless frustration, she threw the letter across the room.  
  
She was SAILOR MOON, damn it! She should have done SOMETHING! There   
wasn`t anything she could have done, unfortunately.  
  
That`s why her best friend was dead.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Moon`s attention was so focused on Sailor Jendra who   
painfully clutched her wounded waist that she couldn`t see Ronmar   
aiming his dark spear at her back.  
  
Her friend did.  
  
"Watch out, Sailor Moon!" yelled Naru, pushing Usagi out of the   
way and placing herself in direct line with the soaring spear at   
the same time.  
  
She did not think of her own safety and, in a heroic gesture that   
would never be forgotten, got hit right in the stomach instead of   
Usagi. The spear pierced her body from side to side, burning her   
with its infernal cold. Its horrible damage done, it vanished,   
leaving a gaping, bleeding hole in the girl`s limp body. She was   
dying fast and would not hold on for long.  
  
"NO, NARU!" screamed Sailor Moon in disbelief.  
  
Ronmar stared coldly at his dying hostage.  
  
"Damn, I had only one of those." he said calmly.  
  
Hatred like she never experienced before filled Sailor Moon`s heart-   
she wanted only to destroy the dread lord of darkness if it was the   
last thing she did.  
  
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"  
  
Dissolving quickly into black putrid smoke, Ronmar avoided easily   
the glowing disk of light. By sheer willpower alone, however, Sailor   
Moon made the tiara hover in place right in the middle of the cloud.   
The tiara glowed brighter than it ever did before, fueled by Usagi`s   
blind rage, forcing the knightmare into his solid form again.   
Paralyzed by the tiara`s light, he was helpless.  
  
"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"  
  
Hit head-on by the scepter`s destructor blast, the first knightmare   
of the spheres fell into a pile of sparkling dust. He had been truly   
destroyed.  
  
"Sailor Moon, I think Naru is dead!" said Laurella, her face twisted   
in pain.   
  
"She might still have a chance if I take her to a hospital fast!"   
she replied, unwilling to believe her oldest friend had died.  
  
She had stopped breathing already and her pulse was impossible to   
detect. Covering herself with Naru`s blood in the process, Sailor   
Moon carried her to the nearest hospital as quickly as her legs   
would allow. Upon reaching the emergency room, the doctors could   
only declare her dead on arrival.  
  
Even though the other hostages were successfully rescued by the four   
other scouts and Jendra`s wound could easily be treated, the shock   
of Naru`s death was too much for Usagi to handle. The scouts led her   
away from the hospital so she could clean up and transform back to   
her normal clothes.  
  
And so her best friend was gone.  
  
* * *  
  
Luna watched over Usagi who finally fell asleep. Even in her slumber,   
her face reflected the deep sorrow of her loss.  
  
"Poor kid. So young to go through so many tragedies." she thought.  
  
Shingo opened the door to Usagi`s room and looked at his sister,   
ashamed he was unable to help her. His special "talent" he had   
recently discovered and practiced to use could have averted this...   
if only he hadn`t gotten so weak from giving Sailor Moon a helping   
hand the week before.  
  
"I`m sorry, big sister." he whispered and went back to his room.  
  
* * *  
  
In her dream, Usagi sat in a park of silver trees, looking up in the   
night sky at the full earth. She wore her princess`s gown and tiara.   
Even in her dreams, she cried still for her friend.  
  
Queen Serenity came to comfort her.  
  
"Cry not for your friend Naru, my daughter. Destiny has chosen a   
path for all of us and not even Sailor Moon can change it." she   
said.  
  
"I didn`t get a chance to say goodbye!" Usagi replied.  
  
A bright halo appeared in front of Usagi, gold in color, surrounding   
a feminine shape. The halo dimmed down a bit, revealing Naru`s face.  
  
"You can tell her while she`s here." said Serenity.  
  
"Naru, I miss you so much!" she said, hugging her friend.  
  
"I`ve seen you cry, Usagi. You shouldn`t shed your tears for me like   
this." she said in a serene voice.  
  
"How can you be dead, Naru? We were supposed to grow old together,   
our daughters would have been best friends just like us!" Usagi   
said.  
  
"Destiny has its plan, dear Sailor Moon, have faith in it." said   
Naru.  
  
"You know I`m Sailor Moon?" asked Usagi.  
  
"On this side, there is much I know that I didn`t before." said   
Naru.  
  
"I`ll miss you, my dearest friend." said Usagi, a faint smile on   
her lips.  
  
"So will I." said Naru.  
  
In a flash of divine radiance, Naru vanished into the next world   
for her final rest. For a moment, Usagi could have sworn she had   
pure white feathery wings.  
  
Usagi woke up refreshed, some amount of peace in her heart. She put   
Naru`s chain around her neck and decided she`d say a few words when   
her body would put to its final rest. She didn`t have the strength   
during the eulogy, but she did now. She`d share her strenght with   
poor Umino whose sweetheart had suddenly left his life and Miss   
Osaka who had lost her only child.  
  
"Goodbye, my friend." she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.  
  
  
The End.  
  
* * *  
  
Some of you might not appreciate the fact that Naru died.   
  
"It`s not fair!" I imagine some of you will say.  
  
Quite the contrary, death is the only fair thing in life. No matter   
who we are, it strikes at us some day, young and old alike, rich and   
poor, healthy and sick, men and women, it doesn`t make any kind of   
discrimination. Simply put, everyone dies at some point.  
  
We`ve all been touched by death some day, wether it be the death of   
a parent, a friend or even our pet dog or cat.  
  
This is how it`s always been, this is how it will always be.  



	9. Silver Secrets

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 9  
  
SILVER SECRETS  
  
  
  
In a golden age of peace and prosperity, the moon kingdom had become   
an utopia of happiness and prosperity. Free of any danger, Queen   
Serenity had created a civilisation based on knowledge and culture   
unlike any that had ever existed. It was a model of perfection to   
all of its allies, an ideal that could be attained as it was living   
proof that such perfection was possible.  
  
Young princess Usagi joined her mother in the royal gardens, a sad   
look on her face. Serenity wondered what fate would await her   
daughter in the coming years. She was only five years old, but her   
life had already been shaped by the events following her birth.  
  
"Mommy, I saw him again in my dreams last night." she said.  
  
"Of course, my darling. His body may have passed away but his spirit   
lives on in the new crystal he has forged." said Serenity, showing   
her daughter a beautiful silver crystal.  
  
"Mommy, please tell me the poem again." asked Usagi.  
  
"You love to hear it, don`t you?" asked Serenity. The cute princess   
nodded with enthusiasm, her frown gone from her face.  
  
In an age of peace,  
one must pay the price  
to see it live on  
make a great sacrifice.  
  
For those you love,  
give them hope to live.  
Grant them a chance,  
surrender your life.  
  
Two hearts together,  
beating forever-  
survival of a soul  
in the heart of Technazul.  
  
At the sound of these words, the silver crystal glowed gently from   
within to little Usagi`s amazement. Serenity smiled; she loved   
seeing her daughter`s expression when she looked at the radiant   
crystal.  
  
"When can never thank you enough for what you did for us, dear   
friend." she said, looking at the crystal.  
  
A young girl approached them and gave a gracious salute to her   
queen. She wore the white and silver uniform of Sailor Jendra.   
Although she was undergoing the strict tutelage that would make   
her a fearsome warrior, she couldn`t have been older than fifteen   
years old. Laurella was the youngest of the scouts, the other ones   
being at least twenty-five. Hesitant in taking a student, her mentor   
Kitechnum Jendra had taken almost a decade longer than his brethren   
in choosing an extraordinary young girl whom he would train.  
  
"Greetings, my queen" said Laurella.  
  
"Greetings, Laurella." replied the queen. "How goes your training   
with Kitechnum?"  
  
"Very good, I finally mastered the chromatic blast. Tomorrow, I`ll   
start learning something called the seven slasher." said the scout   
in training.  
  
"Usagi was waiting for you. She loves to go skating, don`t you   
darling?" asked Serenity.  
  
"Yes, mommy!" said the joyous princess.  
  
Usagi left with Laurella for the skating rink where the princess   
showed great talent. She didn`t need anyone to help her skate; all   
she really required was someone to tie her laces. Even if she could   
do so herself, her mother would never let her go anywhere without   
the protection from one of the sailor scouts. Usagi was really crazy   
about them and wanted to be a scout herself when she grew up.  
  
"I`ll be Sailor Moon!" she said to everyone. This always made people   
smile.  
  
In the meantime, she spent a lot of time playing and skating with all   
of the scouts, except Sailor Mars. For some reason, Usagi had the   
creeps about Celeste. Besides, the fire-haired girl considered this   
a waste of time and would rather spend her spare hours in training to   
become a more powerful scout.  
  
The queen held the crystal close to her heart and repeated the last   
verse of the poem, feeling love radiating from the crystal into her   
being.  
  
Two hearts together,  
beating forever-  
survival of a soul  
in the heart of Technazul.  
  
  
Laurella woke up with the rising sun, thinking over this dream she   
just had. Often enough, her dreams were just repetitions of previous   
dreams she already had. This one, however, was something new which   
could help unlock the mysteries of the sailor scouts` past lives.  
  
She`d have to discuss this one with the others, especially Usagi   
and Luna.  
  
* * *  
  
Speaking of Usagi, she woke up as well... a little later than her   
friends. Arising from her dreams, she smiled. For the past few days,   
she and the other scouts had been remembering their days on the moon   
kingdom the same way Laurella had all her life. Their nocturnal   
visions were now bringing them rememberance of the long gone past.  
  
"Hmmm... Luna, our lives on the moon kingdom were really beautiful."   
she said to the waking black cat.  
  
"Yes, they were." replied Luna, yawning.  
  
Without warning, her little brother Shingo opened her door and   
screamed.  
  
"Wake up, ditz-brain, you`re gonna be late for school again!"  
  
Usagi panicked for a second before realizing school had been over   
for almost a week now.  
  
"School`s out, you little weasel!" she replied, obviously annoyed.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I forgot!" he said, laughing as he ran away fast enough   
to avoid the pillow aimed at   
his head.  
  
"I can`t believe that little plague carrying vermin! Can`t he find   
someone else to pester?" Usagi asked rethorically. Luna didn`t care   
to answer that one.  
  
"Say, Usagi, aren`t the other girls waiting for you to go shopping   
today?" she asked.  
  
"Hey, that`s right, I almost forgot." she said. She looked at the   
clock and freaked. "NINE FOURTY FIVE?!? I`m so late, they`re going   
to skin me alive!" she screamed, grabbing her clothes and breakfast   
faster than the speed of sound.  
  
Some things NEVER change, thought Luna.  
  
* * *  
  
With Makoto distracting Usagi by keeping her busy in the changing   
room, Rei quickly went over the latest details of Usagi`s surprise   
party for the benefit of Minako, Ami and Laurella.   
  
"Makoto`s got the munchies angle covored- she`ll be preparing Usagi`s   
favorite meal: food!" she explained.  
  
"I`m not really sure what to give her; I haven`t known her as long   
as you girls have." said Laurella.  
  
"Don`t worry, we`ll help you out. She`s not hard to shop for." said   
Ami.  
  
Their secret conference was brutally interrupted by Makoto`s angry   
wails with Usagi`s laughter in the background.  
  
"The man who came up with *one size fits all* should be publicly   
executed!" yelled Makoto.  
  
"We`ll continue this later when we can distract the birthday girl   
again." concluded Rei.  
  
The unbelievably tall girl blasted out of the changing room holding   
a bathing suit much too small for her, regardless of what the label   
said. It doesn`t matter how much stretchable spandex is, every   
fabric has its limits. Usagi followed, incapable of controlling her   
laughter.  
  
* * *  
  
In another part of the same shopping mall, inside a video rental   
store, Shingo was carefully going through the *american imports*   
section, trying to find something interesting to watch.  
  
"Let`s see..." he thought, "seen this... seen this... seen this   
four times... hated that one... hey, this is new!"  
  
He picked up a cassette of a show called "Aeon Flux". Sounds   
promising, he thought. He took it to the register and showed his   
membership card.  
  
Two rows across, a pair of strange customers was pretending to   
search for an action movie, but they were really observing Usagi`s   
kid brother. They were a man and a woman dressed in clothes that   
looked like an odd mix of american detective movies and futuristic   
japanese anime. Both had long blond hair; the man kept his in a   
simple ponytail while the woman wore it in an elaborate asian   
braid. They seemed totally out of place.  
  
They saw Shingo leave the store with his rented tape and left as   
well to go drink a milkshake at a nearby snack bar from wich they   
could keep most of the mall under surveillance. After fifteen   
minutes of silence, the man spoke first.  
  
"The ressemblance is too great to be a simple coincidence, it must   
be him." he said.  
  
"I felt the flux in him... weak, tired, but growing stronger as   
time passes." she added.  
  
"So what are we to do about him?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing for now. She told us that what is meant to be always is,   
to trust and believe in destiny." she said.  
  
"Why does she always have to be so cryptic?"  
  
"Beats me. If we knew why, she wouldn`t need to be, now, would   
she?"  
  
The woman`s explanation, though twisted in logic, made some kind of   
sense to the man.  
  
"I guess so. Being the first one of us to be created certainly made   
a difference. To be honest, she always freaked me out." the man   
admitted while her companion finished her drink.  
  
"This is really good." she said. "I`m going to enjoy our stay with   
the humans."  
  
"Don`t enjoy yourself too much, we`re leaving once this assignment   
is over." he concluded.  
  
They left.  
  
* * *  
  
"Nothing like a nice pitstop in the park to refuel, don`t you think?"   
asked Usagi between two bites of Makoto`s delicious cake.  
  
"Yeah, it reminds me of those outings we made when we protected the   
princess on the moon. We tagged along everywhere to protect her, but   
there wasn`t anything to protect her from!" said Makoto.  
  
"It`s nice to recover our memories like this, isn`t it?" asked   
Minako.  
  
"Yeah, especially with Luna going senile and all." added Usagi.  
  
"Cut it with the senility jokes! It`s not my fault if my memories of   
the moon kingdom are full of holes!" protested Luna. "A thousand   
years stuck in a prototype cryopod will do that to you."  
  
"Speaking of the moon kingdom, Luna, there`s something I wanted to   
ask you. What do you know about the silver crystal? Where does it   
come from?" asked Laurella.  
  
"All I can remember is that it belonged to Queen Serenity who used   
it to forge the moon kingdom into the peaceful utopia we remember   
in our dreams." Luna replied.  
  
"My dream last night hinted that there might be more to the crystal   
than we thought. Does the name *heart of Technazul* ring a bell to   
anyone?" Laurella asked.  
  
This name intrigued the scouts who found that this name did sound   
vaguely familiar. Laurella asked Usagi to show her the silver   
crystal, that she wanted to demonstrate something weird. Usagi   
opened her brooch, revealing the sparkling crystal. Laurella   
proceeded to recite the last verse of the poem, the only one she   
remembered from her dream.  
  
Two hearts together,  
beating forever-  
survival of a soul  
in the heart of Technazul  
  
The crystal glowed at the sound of these words, just as it did in   
the dream, to everyone`s amazement.  
  
"Young princess Usagi made the same face in my dream when she looked   
at the glowing crystal." said Laurella, smiling. This was very much   
like that scene she remembered the previous night. "Queen Serenity   
also mentionned someone making a new crystal to replace the original   
one."  
  
At that moment, dark clouds began blocking out the sun. Within   
minutes, the entire sky was dark grey, thunder rolling in the   
distance. Usagi freaked at the sound.  
  
"Do you mind if we continue this later and go home instead?" she   
asked, trembling at the idea of a thunderstorm.  
  
"If our picnic is over, I`ll skip ahead and start get ready for my   
date tonight." said Makoto as she picked out the blanket and dishes   
strewn all over.  
  
"Who`s the guy?" quickly asked Minako.  
  
"One of the cooks at Cassidy`s restaurant; he looks just like my   
ex-boyfriend" she said as she dashed away with the scared Usagi in   
close pursuit.   
  
"Wow, that`s a real coincidence!" said Laurella who got strange looks   
from the other girls. "What?" she asked, wondering if she said   
something wrong.  
  
"I`ll explain you later." whispered Minako.  
  
"Well, let`s not hang around until the rain catches us off guard!"   
said Rei.  
  
* * *  
  
A few minutes ago atop one of downtown`s many skyscrappers, a   
strange visitor from another dimension had materialized. He very   
much enjoyed his view of the huge city.   
  
This sort of thing happened so often in Tokyo that it hardly seemed   
strange at all anymore. Yet another dark warrior intending on finding   
the scouts had entered the city.  
  
The storm clouds in the sky were not some random occurance; Jormunder   
was widely known among the inhabitants of the tenth sphere as   
Stormrider, and attracting storm clouds was a special talent of his.   
That`s just the way he liked it.  
  
Now for the final touch- thunder and lightning! From a sheath on   
his back he pulled a skillfuly crafted two-handed sword. He looked   
for a while at his most prized possession, the legendary Storm   
Seeker. He smiled and brandished the sword in the air.  
  
"Now, my seeker, fetch me a storm!!!" he screamed.  
  
In response to his command, heavy rain began pouring down as   
lightning tore the sky. Huge bolts of lightning struck the Storm   
Seeker, increasing the power of Jormunder in the process. Japan   
hadn`t seen such a strong storm in years.  
  
Sparkles of pleasure tingled in his spine as the gusts of wind blew   
through the skies and rain soaked his medieval looking clothes. The   
raging elements fed his ever growing power and he loved it.  
  
* * *  
  
Rei and Laurella barely had the time to find shelter in a small   
restaurant before the rain shut them in. They didn`t have any   
umbrellas or raincoats, so they decided to go over the guest list   
while they waited for the storm to calm down.  
  
"Usagi must be terrified, she hates lightning." said Rei.  
  
"Let`s hope it won`t be raining during her party." said Laurella.  
  
"Okay, now, let`s see who else we`d like to invite..."  
  
After an hour, Umino walked by the restaurant in the pouring rain   
without anything to keep himself dry. His clothes were dripping wet   
but he didn`t seem to care. Since Naru`s death, he hadn`t been the   
same. Rei ran after him in the rain. She wanted to make sure he`d   
get home soon and got himself dry so he didn`t catch a cold.  
  
"Umino! Where are you going?" she asked.  
  
"Don`t know. Somewhere I guess." he said coldly, clearly he didn`t   
care.  
  
"Umino, you shouldn`t stay alone like this. I know you miss her   
terribly, but... she`s gone. She wouldn`t want you to be so sad!"   
she told him.  
  
Only thirty seconds had passed since she left the restaurant and   
already she was drenched as he was.  
  
"Right now, all I really want is to be alone." he said and walked   
away.  
  
Rei stood there and watched him disappear into the pouring rain   
until Laurella came to get her back inside. She felt sorry for him.  
  
"I wish he could meet someone nice to brighten his life again." Rei   
said.  
  
"He`s a sweet guy, he will." said Laurella.  
  
* * *  
  
Alone in her room with Luna, Usagi stared at the silver empirium   
crystal inside her brooch. She felt like she was missing something   
important.  
  
"We`re having the worst thunderstorm in ages and you`re practically   
not scared. There must be something special about the crystal,   
that`s for sure." said Luna.  
  
"Yes, I can feel it. Plus, this name, heart of Technazul, it fits   
the crystal really well, I don`t know why." said Usagi.  
  
"The memories from your dreams should help you figure it out   
eventually."  
  
"Yeah, you`re right." said Usagi. Lightning crashed once again and   
Usagi felt her stomach twist in fear as it did. So much for that   
new courage the crystal brought her.  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto left the movie theatre early, more depressed than ever about   
her love life. Her date turned out to be another insensitive jerk   
who was more interested in her body than her personality. She gave   
him a free sample consisting of her right fist on his jaw.  
  
"How do they do it? Finding nice guys... geez, Usagi and Rei don`t   
know how good they have it." she complained.  
  
She opened the umbrella she brought along with her and went home.   
If only destiny would place a great guy on her way...  
  
* * *  
  
Stormrider let the power of the raging thunderstorm fill his entire   
being. He was now ready to accomplish his mission, all he needed   
was to attract the attention of the sailor scouts. He did it the   
only way he knew how: destroying everything in sight. He rose Storm   
Seeker in the air, turning himself into a living lightning rod. The   
raw energy he stole from the sky charged up in his body; he   
redirected it all around, damaging buildings and igniting parked   
cars.  
  
"Shouldn`t take too long now." he thought.  
  
Shaping the winds in a small vortex around him, Jormunder hovered   
in the air. He descended to street level where he continued his   
thundrous rampage.  
  
* * *  
  
On her way to see Ami at her house, Minako met Umino by chance.   
She rushed to cover him under her umbrella, although this proved   
useless considering he was already wet to the bone.  
  
"Umino, I haven`t seen you smile in a long time." she said, hoping   
to see this situation change.  
  
"I don`t feel like it anymore, now that she`s gone. Do you know how   
it feels to lose the one person you love?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I do. The pain is overwhelming at first, but I learned that   
you can`t let it rule your life "  
  
Minako felt her right hand hurt a bit. This was one of those times   
when she almost expected her scars to open up and bleed again like   
the day she lost Jedite. She still believed herself partly   
responsible for his death; during Jedite`s last battle against the   
scouts, it was her love-me chain that prevented him from deflecting   
the combined attacks of the scouts. If only she had recognized him   
in time...  
  
Umino seemed lost in that pain right now. It was all that occupied   
his mind and nothing else could compare to the memory of his darling   
Naru. Minako placed her hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to tell   
him she understood his pain.  
  
"Nothing is more tragic than losing a loved one. I understand you,   
as hard as it seems to believe..." she said.  
  
"That`s sweet of you, trying to cheer me up. You`re a really good   
friend." answered Umino.  
  
He gently removed her hand from his shoulder and went on his way.  
  
"Please don`t cry for me, I`m already dead." he whispered so that   
she wouldn`t hear.  
  
* * *  
  
The striking thunder crashing from the sky didn`t scare Makoto at   
all. Unlike Usagi, she was a child of Jupiter, born of lightning. A   
simple storm had no effect on her, if only to annoy her from the   
water seeping inside her shoes.  
  
The flying man shooting lightning bolts from his sword she saw going   
down the street, however, was another barrel of monkeys.  
  
Her love life would have to wait. A good fight would be welcome right   
about then, Sailor Jupiter was always too busy fighting evil to   
realize how lonely she felt in her everyday life. She didn`t want to   
face such an unknown enemy by herself, though, especially one with   
an entire storm at his command, so she called in her friends.  
  
Fast and swift, they were there; Moon, Jupiter, Mars, Jendra, Venus   
and Mercury. Jormunder held in the air, showing open contempt to the   
law of gravity.  
  
"About time you showed up, you almost made me wait. I have a message   
for you all." he said.  
  
"You did all this to... deliver a message?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
With his one free hand, Stormrider pulled a small crystal ball from   
his vest pocket. A light beam emerged from it to form the larger   
than life image of a woman unlike any the scouts had ever seen.  
  
She was quite obviously a demon of some sort with squallid skin and   
blood red eyes, small fangs gracing a wicked smile on her delicate   
mouth. Her long hair had the same charred black color as her   
leathery wings. Demon wings usually gave the impression that they   
had been dipped in tar, but hers did not. All over her muscled body,   
covering the most vital areas, were patches of an armored second   
skin wich protected her as well as rendering clothes unnecessary.   
Her clawed hands were just as delicately crafted as her well   
sculpted feet wich looked nothing like those of other demons;   
those usually looked like they were the third segment of her legs,   
with the ankles acting as a second knee, but not so with this   
female demon. She also had talons on her heels, completing   
remarkably this twistedly attractive picture.  
  
This demonic temptress held herself with style and distinction,   
assuming an attitude that was very sexy, in an unholy sort of way.   
If the catholic church ever attempted to personify sin as a   
physical being, she would be it.  
  
Then she spoke, her voice reverberating in head throbbing echoes   
that were simply impossible to ignore, misunderstand or tune out.  
  
"Let it be known to all on this day that Lady Daemonfang, ruler of   
the tenth sphere, daughter of the fallen Lord Vennomklaw, wife and   
widow of Ronmar the dread lord of darkness and first knightmare of   
the spheres, claims for herself by law of Changraloor the right of   
first vengence against those who destroyed her husband. I claim   
their blood mine to spill, their bones mine to break, their skin   
mine to tear, their lives mine to end and their souls mine to crush.   
So Lady Daemonfang declares it, so be it known. " she declared in   
the traditionnal fashion to the very last inflection.  
  
Having declared her intentions of vengence and rightfully reserved   
the honor to herself, the she-demon`s image disappeared.  
  
"So my mistress says, so she will do in a week from now." said   
Jormunder. In a flash of light, he vanished.  
  
The rain and thunder stopped the instant Stormrider was gone. The   
sailor scouts looked at each other in silence, unsure of what to   
say. Usagi found the words to say it best:  
  
"This is not good, is it?"  
  
The clouds cleared up in a few minutes. Those in the sky, anyway.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi settled in bed tired from the day, both physically and   
mentally. Yet another demonic fiend had sworn her death today. She   
hugged Luna and fell asleep, wondering if she`d ever get to live a   
normal life with Mamoru, or if she`d even live old enough to get   
married with him.  
  
The hardships of reality faded and left their place to the unreal   
wonders of dreams. Again that night, she saw the beautiful moon   
palace from the priviliged view of the royal bedroom`s balcony. She   
realized this was a dream and was hoping to get the answers she   
sought. Usagi needed to talk to a very special woman; her mother in   
her past life, Queen Serenity. Surely enough, she came to her once   
again with that serene smile on her lips that never seemed to fade   
away.  
  
"Hello my daughter, I feel you full of questions as always." she   
said in her soothing voice.  
  
"Yes, the first one is about the silver empirium crystal. Where does   
it come from?" Usagi asked, showing her mother the sparkling crystal.  
  
"There is much you don`t know about the crystal, most of which you   
learned in the moon kingdom when you came of age but forgot after   
Beryl`s attack took you away from me a thousand years ago. It is   
now time that you learn once again the truth about the crystals,   
the comet and Technazul Terra."  
  
"CRYSTALS? Plural, as in more than one?"  
  
"Let me start at the beginning... you already know that the Technum   
guardians trained the sailor scouts as the defenders of the moon   
kingdom and, to a greater extent, the entire silver millenium.   
Their creator, the Prime, was an ally of ours and his ambassador   
was the guardian of the earth, Technazul Terra. He became a close   
friend of the moon and helped me shape the kingdom into the paradise   
you see in your dreams by combining his Technum powers with my   
silver empirium crystal."  
  
"So why don`t I ever see him in my dreams like the other guardians?   
I see them often in my dreams, training the other scouts. Did he   
train me as Sailor Moon?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"You can never see him in your memories of the moon kingdom for a   
simple reason: while you were still a newborn, a huge comet menaced   
the moon of total destruction. I tried to use the silver crystal,   
but the strain of so many centuries of constant use had made it   
brittle and weak... it shattered, leaving the moon defenseless.   
Unwilling to see us die, he risked everything by concentrating his   
entire essence on the comet, smashing it to dust and sparing the   
moon kingdom. His body passed away, unable to sustain its own life.   
His spirit, however, returned to me and crystallized into a new   
silver empirium crystal, the heart of Technazul, wich you keep in   
your brooch every day, my daughter."  
  
"It was courageous to surrender his life, but... why did he do it?   
Don`t the guardians consider this interference with the natural   
order of the solar system or something?"  
  
"He had a good reason to do so. You see, We had known each other for   
over four centuries already. As the years went by, our alliance   
became stronger; trust grew into friendship and friendship bloomed   
into love. From this love was born a beautiful little blonde girl,   
the most wonderful child in the world. Your father refused to see   
your future destroyed, my dear Usagi."  
  
"My father is the Technum guardian of earth..." said Usagi to   
herself, hardly believing it.  
  
"Yes, and his spirit his alive in the silver crystal, protecting   
you by allowing you to transform into Sailor Moon. When you grew   
up on the moon kingdom, he came in your dreams to teach you to be   
this warrior you had dreamed of becoming as a child."  
  
"Then why did he stop visiting my dreams?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Preserving the souls of the children of the moon a thousand years   
ago has taken much of his strength, but fear not. As you continue   
your crusade against all evil, he will progressively grow strong   
again until he can visit your dreams, one day..."  
  
The poem made sense now, and sounded beautiful to her ears. She   
recited it along with Serenity, the crystal glowing stronger than   
ever before, showing Technazul`s love for his wife and daughter.  
  
Serenity kissed Usagi on her forehead and reassured her.  
  
"Remember that destiny is watching us always, nothing happens in   
vain and true love can never be broken. Your friend Umino will not   
suffer in vain." she said.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Usagi.  
  
"You`ll see."  
  
The moon palace vanished and the dream fluttered away into the night   
like a butterfly.  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE...  
  
  
In the darkness of the night, a bright red spot twinkled in the   
bathroom of a luxurious house, giving away a lonely young girl   
taking a hot bath with the only light provided by the waning moon.   
Blue smoke rings drifted above Laurella`s head, mixing slowly with   
the steam from the hot bath. Her parents disapproved of her smoking   
in general and in the bath in particular, but right now she didn`t   
give a damn, really.  
  
For the first time since her haunting nightmares stopped, she didn`t   
care to sleep. She knew all too well she`d probably dream about him   
again. In her former life, she was in love with the guardian who   
trained her as a scout, Kitechnum Jendra. As far as she knew, she   
still was. Laurella didn`t feel like reminiscing of her former life   
in her sleep; she did enough of that when she was awake.  
  
She had hoped that he might have reincarnated like princess Usagi   
and prince Endymion did, that they could be reunited again. When   
the scouts fought the triad, her hopes came true. The Technum blast   
that broke Vortika`s spell was his, she was sure. She felt this   
very same energy during her scout training. It was HIM, no doubt   
about it.  
  
Laurella had kept the secret so far, but she`d have to tell the   
scouts at some point: Kitechnum Jendra was alive and watching over   
the scouts.  
  
  
The End  



	10. Second Chances and New...

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Wow, already my tenth story.  
  
Before I go on any further, I`d like to thank the one person who   
gave me the idea to write Sailor Moon fanfics in the first place:   
Kenton Cernea, the Great Requiem. He`s the one who suggested I try   
to write one and thus pushed me to create my first piece, "Swimming   
in Dark Waters" (yeah, I know, it`s really episode 3, but at that   
moment I didn`t know it`d go so far).   
  
One story led to the other and eventually this alternate universe   
I came up with took a life of its own.  
  
And now things are about to turn a new corner and head in a   
different direction; as the scouts are preparing to face their newest   
challenge, they try to put their lives together the best they can.   
Then again, it can`t be that easy to have a normal life when you`re   
a reincarnated hero from a fallen civilisation of the moon, right?   
Once this fight has ended, many things will have changed, hopefully   
for the better.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 10  
  
SECOND CHANCES AND NEW BEGINNINGS  
  
  
"This is Yamamoto Masaki reporting for channel three action news   
live from the very place where, one week ago, a demon calling herself   
Lady Daemonfang appeared to issue a challenge to the sailor scouts.   
The sun is rising slowly on this cool morning and we all wait in   
excitment, wondering if any of these people actually exist and if so,   
will any of them show up? We`ll stay here all day with updates as the   
events unfold. Back to you in studio, Yoshiko! "  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi woke up calmly and tried to shake away the feeling of dread   
in her heart. It was no use, as the threat of Lady Daemonfang loomed   
over her head like the proverbial sword of Damocles.  
  
"Happy birthday, Usagi." said Luna, trying as well to cheer her up.  
  
"Thanks, Luna, I only hope I can live long enough to enjoy being   
seventeen years old."  
  
"The scouts can triumph over her like they did over Beryl, the   
wiseman and Ronmar." said Luna.  
  
Luna struck a raw nerve at the mention of the first knightmare of   
the spheres. It was him who had killed her best friend Naru while   
attempting to destroy Sailor Moon, as well as his wife who was   
coming today claiming vengence for his death two weeks before. Usagi   
opened her brooch and looked at the silver empirium crystal.  
  
"Father, please help me go through this new ordeal." she whispered.  
  
At the same moment, alone in his room, Shingo was preparing himself   
for the conflict ahead as well. He opened his backpack and threw in   
the movie he had rented the night before and removed from under his   
bed a ninja-inspired emerald green costume. He had hidden sewing   
talents and was very proud of this very well done uniform of sorts.   
Shingo had also sewn a strange symbol he had seen many times in his   
dreams.  
  
"Jendra" he thought as he stared at the symbol. It must have meant   
something.  
  
Stuffing the suit in his backpack, he tried to figure where to go   
now. He could almost feel the evil force coming and intuitively knew   
where to look.  
  
* * *  
  
Right in the middle of the place where the future city of Crystal   
Tokyo would stand, a small cosmetics shop called *Beauty 4 you*   
stood, doing business unaware of its incredibly strategic value.   
Many months ago, a Dark Moon denizen called Rubeus had tried to   
seize control of this place, the core of the greatest utopia that   
would ever created on earth, to corrupt it and prevent this   
majestuous city from being built.  
  
This beauty store was now the sole property of the same sisters   
whom Rubeus manipulated to attain his goals. Their tiny booth had   
been successful enough to allow them to afford a more permanent   
location, so they chose this place. Not only was it a great location   
in the biggest commercial district of the city, but it was also the   
best way to prevent another enemy from the future from repeating   
Rubeus`s evil plan.  
  
They didn`t even have to change the name of the store, wich fitted   
the four sisters perfectly.  
  
Normally, the very busy store would already be open. Not today, as   
the sisters were getting ready for their first battle in months.   
They knew a thing or two about the ruling family of Changraloor.  
  
"How long as it been since we tangled with those goons from the   
tenth sphere?" asked Catsy, slipping on her purple tights and tutu.  
  
"Not long enough, that`s for sure." replied Prisma, strapping on her   
revealing black satin suit   
decorated with feather covered shoulder pads.  
  
"If I remember correctly my history lessons, Lady Daemonfang was the   
fifth ruler of the tenth sphere for over four hundred years. She met   
an abrupt death sometime between... let`s see... today and fifty   
years from now, I can`t remember the exact date or year. It`s hard   
to say if we win today or not." explained Avery who was carefully   
verifying she hadn`t forgotten to clamp any of her valkyrie-style   
suit`s many buckles.  
  
"I`m just glad we still all fit in these things." said Birdie,   
seeing that her light blue, very revealing suit perfectly matched   
her slim shapes.  
  
They now looked exactly as they did during their last confrontation   
with the sailor scouts, to one detail: the dark crescent moon on   
their foreheads was gone, erased by Sailor Moon`s healing process.  
  
"Ready girls?" asked Prisma, black lightning pulsing around her   
closed fists.  
  
"No, but let`s do it anyway." answered Birdie, putting the final   
touch to her makeup.  
  
"That`s the spirit!" said Catsy, checking if her fingernails were   
sharp enough.  
  
"Let`s go help out our friends, then!" concluded Avery, waving her   
whips in the air.  
  
* * *  
  
The utterly repulsive creature named Ithzhanh nervously storked the   
handle of his burning cold whip. As overseer of Lady Daemonfang`s   
royal guards, he was to punish any who showed weakness among the   
ranks, killing them as he saw fit. He loved his job with a passion.  
  
Lady Daemonfang joined Ithzhanh in the portal court where her army   
gathered in order to march upon the battlefield in the first sphere,   
the light world. Ithzhanh showed remarkable physical ressemblance to   
Daemonfang, wich wasn`t surprising considering he was her son. His   
body pretty much followed the same model, except that he had the   
typical slimy wings of most demons. He was much shorter that his   
mother who stood over seven feet tall and didn`t help himself by   
keeping a needless hunchback stature most of the time; no taller   
than five feet tall, Ithzhanh looked like a dwarf next to her.  
  
On the mental level, however, he was her exact opposite. Cowardly   
and opportunistic to the extreme, he obeyed his mother out of both   
greed and fear.  
  
"How are the troops coming along?" she asked in a voice that hinted   
disgust, but not so much as to actually offend the vile overseer.  
  
"Wonderful! They`re all sooooo afraid of me, they`re running all   
over the place! I even got the chance to punish a few weak ones...   
they died so it serves them right!" said the ecstatic creature.  
  
"Good. Don`t kill too many of them, though, we need every trooper we   
can muster." she said coldly.  
  
"Can I kill one more before we cross the portal?" he asked with the   
demonic equivalent of sad puppy eyes.  
  
"All right, but no more!" she almost barked. She couldn`t stand   
extended conversations with her own son; for some reason, even   
demons got sick in this little wretch`s presence.  
  
Ithzhanh batted his slimy wings in excitment. "You, there, lazy one!   
Come here and learn proper respect!" he yelled at an unlucky   
knightmare who was the closest to Lady Daemonfang`s spawn.  
  
In abominable screams, his life ended under the icy touch of the   
young demon`s weapon.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella walked down the street by herself, lost in a daydream. She   
didn`t take her motorcycle, knowing that she`d probably get into an   
accident if she had; sometimes, she really needed to take her time   
and think. She carried along a movie she rented the previous night   
in the futile hope to raise her spirits. Sailor Jendra hadn`t fought   
that many monsters so far and the she-demon scared her like hell.  
  
She was just about to enter the video store when a young teenage boy   
came out and walked right passed her toward a nearby bus stop. His   
face was familiar- it was HIM! She didn`t recognize him immediately   
because he wasn`t thousands of years old, but there was no   
possibility of error.  
  
Laurella snapped out of her frozen haze and ran after the boy. That   
face, those eyes, Kitechnum Jendra had walked right passed her and   
she didn`t even say anything to her one true love from a millenium   
ago! Unfortunately, he got on the bus before she could reach him,   
speeding away from her.  
  
"WAIT!" she vainly screamed. Too late, he was gone. Laurella couldn`t   
believe that, of all mornings, she had to chose THIS ONE to leave   
her motorcycle home.  
  
On the bus, Shingo thought that the brunette girl he passed by on   
his way to the bus reminded him of the one he often saw in his   
dreams...  
  
"Nah, it couldn`t be her." he figured.  
  
Besides, he had no time to lose thinking about his dreams; Sailor   
Moon would need his help again today, big time.  
  
* * *  
  
Michiru picked up her transformation pen on her dresser and Haruka   
did the same. They had seen Daemonfang`s message in person, being   
there quite by chance the day Jormunder attacked Tokyo to get the   
scouts` attention. Even if they had missed it, all the television   
channels spoke only of this, so they would have found out anyway.  
  
Most TV show hosts were convinced this was a hoax, a publicity stunt   
of some kind. A few more daring than the rest were announcing their   
belief in the existence of Sailor Moon and the scouts, wishing them   
good luck against the forces of evil.  
  
"And so our fight continues." said Michiru.  
  
"We have to help Sailor Moon. This creature is not likely to announce   
herself this way only to show up alone. If anything, she`s likely to   
have her personal army along for the ride." observed Haruka.  
  
She had no idea how right she was.  
  
* * *  
  
In his appartment, Mamoru took care of his beautiful roses,   
carefully selecting the most perfect ones he`d cut to give to his   
girlfriend Usagi. The scouts had written his name right on top of   
their guest list for her birthday party and he wanted to do   
something really special in addition to the gift he had picked out   
for her. The roses seemed like the perfect complement.  
  
He thought about the terrible fight she`d have to go through today;   
this Lady Daemonfang was certainly a powerful one and he wanted to   
help, but how? Altough his broken bones had healed remarkably fast   
after his recent accident, Mamoru didn`t have all of his memories   
back from his amnesia and he was certain that the holes in his head   
contained some crucial pieces to the puzzle he had become.  
  
And so he waited, hoping and praying for the love of his life to   
triumph again.  
  
* * *  
  
On her way to the temple for a final meeting before the arrival of   
the demon lord, Ami heard a small beeping sound from her laptop   
computer. She checked it and discovered that Daemonfang was on her   
way, announcing her impending entrance into the first sphere with an   
easily detectable energy signature located in an empty lot some   
distance away.  
  
She obviously wanted a battlefield without any curious bystanders,   
one that the scouts could find fast enough so they`d be there when   
she arrived.  
  
Ami called the others to direct them to the location her laptop   
indicated.  
  
* * *  
  
The troops of Changraloor were finally assembled in ranks, filling   
the entire portal court of the evil fortress from wich the demon   
lords traditionaly controled the tenth sphere. The royal magicians   
were already concentrating on the complex dimensionnal portal spells   
that would enable this army to march over the earth realm.  
  
Dark thunderclouds formed in the sky above the fortress, announcing   
the return of Stormrider just in time to participate to the battle.   
Jormunder joined Lady Daemonfang, ready to fight by her side.  
  
"Where have you been, Jormunder? You almost missed my moment of   
revenge." she said.  
  
"Forgive me, my lady, but the seeker resists well the binding magic.   
I had to refresh the spell before the battle, lest we lose control   
of its power during the fight." he explained.  
  
"Of course, I understand. We cannot risk the Storm Seeker helping   
our enemies, can we?" Daemonfang said. She caressed the pleasing   
features of his face. "I missed you last night, though."  
  
"Do not worry, I won`t be leaving for quite some time now that the   
spell is strong again." said Jormunder, smiling invitingly.  
  
Within minutes, it would begin- her army would go forward and   
she`d crush the so-called protectors of the earth.  
  
* * *  
  
Shingo got off the bus in a part of town he`d never been before;   
there were many construction sites and empty lots as the   
neighbourhood was in an expansion boom. He easily found a spot to   
switch clothes and hide his backpack until he could retrieve it   
later. He couldn`t help thinking of his dreams again. This girl, she   
had called him by a strange name that somehow sounded familiar,   
"Kitechnum".  
  
Strange name.  
  
Cute girl.  
  
He felt that a powerful evil force was on its way over to one of   
the empty lots close by; he snuck there discreetly and saw the sailor   
scouts waiting for the same fiend he was. The six scouts were joined   
there by two more scouts and four weird ladies he never saw before.   
Shingo knew he did not have much power yet, so he`d have to use it   
sparingly, when the moment was just right. He`d be the ace up their   
sleeve, like the last time.   
  
He felt fear, but he wouldn`t let it stop him.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hello, Sailor Moon, long time no see." said Sailor Neptune.  
  
"This is one fight we`re intent on being a part of " proudly said   
Sailor Uranus.  
  
"Thank you very much, we`ll need all the help we can get." said   
Sailor Moon.  
  
"In that case, you`ll be glad to know we`re here too." said Prisma as   
the sisters arrived on the battlefield.  
  
"Why did you come?" asked Mars.  
  
"You healed us and showed us how Rubeus was taking advantage of us.   
Today you need help, so we`re repaying you the favor." said Avery.  
  
"The twelve of us should have a good fighting chance." observed Ami,   
revising the tactical situation in light of these reinforcements.  
  
"All we need now is an enemy to fight!" joked Sailor Jupiter.  
  
Ask and you shall receive, goes the old saying.  
  
An immense swirling interdimensionnal door of gold, silver and bronze   
opened up a hundred meters from the female warriors. Hordes of   
knightmares and minor demons brandishing weapons of all kinds known   
and unknown were regurgitated from the tenth sphere upon the   
defenders of the earth.  
  
The battle had begun.  
  
* * *  
  
A safe distance from the raging battle, the two strangers from the   
video store observed the combat from a construction site. They sat   
atop the incomplete structure of what would become an electronics   
factory by the end of the year.  
  
"It`s started." commented the woman.  
  
"Now we`ll see if he truly is who we believe him to be." replied the   
man.  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru felt something weird inside him, pressing and urgent. He had   
felt this before, always when Usagi was in danger, he was certain of   
that. A soft odour floated in the air, it had followed him all   
morning, where did it come from? It wasn`t from the roses in his   
appartment, it was a sweet smell, delicate... Usagi`s perfume!  
  
He suddenly realized that his jacket pocket contained a small piece   
of paper, so he picked it up and noticed it was a small pink   
enveloppe with a white bunny on it. On the enveloppe was written   
"In case I don`t come back" in Usagi`s handwriting.  
  
He quickly opened it, reading the letter wich was scented to his   
girlfriend`s favorite fragrance.  
  
  
Mamoru, my love,  
Endymion, my prince,  
  
Ever since Luna revealed me my past and destiny as Sailor Moon, I   
have fought many strange and dangerous creatures and vile fiends.  
  
Today I must face one from wich I fear I will not return. It pains   
me that there is a chance we will never get to spend our lives   
together as I have dreamed so many times.  
  
Even if I die in combat today , I would not regret anything I have   
done in my years on this planet for I have known true love, one that   
survived the centuries despite the evils that would have destroyed   
it.  
  
I love you, I always have and always will.  
  
your Usagi.  
  
  
The honesty and tenderness of the letter brought tears to his eyes.   
He wanted to help her, to die with her if it came to that! Then it   
came back to him. The roses. Every time she had ever been in   
trouble, he was there holding a rose. They were the key. He picked   
one up and let the delicate odour fill his being, along with Usagi`s   
image- he was ready at last, the final piece fell into place as he   
transformed. The shining red light swirled around him, turning his   
everyday clothes into a classic style tuxedo and cape. His slowly   
healing arm`s cast was shattered by the light and his broken arm   
was healed.  
  
Tuxedo Kamen was back.  
  
"Hold on, Sailor Moon, I`m coming!" he thought, leaping through the   
air towards the place where he knew he`d find her.  
  
* * *  
  
The sheer intensity of the attack left the girls overwhelmed- so   
many knightmares and demons so fast caught them off guard at first.  
  
"What`s the situation?" screamed Jupiter.  
  
"Not good, too many of them!" responded Uranus.  
  
The evil hordes rushed forward relentlessly, regardless of the   
staggering amount of casualties among their ranks. The elemental   
attacks of fire, lightning, water, light and ice kept erupting from   
the defenders of earth were doing a lot of damage, although not quite   
enough to turn the situation around in their favor.  
  
By the time most of the incoming troops had been neutralized, many   
of the scouts and their allies were out of the fight.  
  
Avery, Birdie, Minako and Michiru were unable to go on fighting while   
Haruka, Ami and Catsy were unconsious.  
  
The brunt of the enemy fighting force had done its job remarkably   
well, weakening the scouts and thus facilitating the task of Lady   
Daemonfang to defeat her enemies. She entered the earth realm in full   
force with her remaining troops and her high commanders, Ithzhanh and   
Jormunder.  
  
Dark clouds filled the sky.  
  
Moon, Jendra, Mars, Jupiter and Prisma stood their ground, awaiting   
for Lady Daemonfang and her goons to attack.  
  
"Let`s hope we have enough strenght left." thought Usagi.  
  
A young warrior came to their side at this point, dressed in a green   
costume that conceiled his identity and bore the alchemical symbol   
of the dead planet Jendra. Laurella recognized him immediately.  
  
"Kitechnum Jendra! I knew you had reincarnated!" she said, happiness   
filling her heart like never before. At the same moment, a rose   
soared across the sky, striking down Ithzhanh who twisted in pain.  
  
"Tuxedo Kamen! It`s really you!" yelled Sailor Moon in joy.   
  
"Yes, Sailor Moon, I`m completely healed now and I`m here to fight   
by your side " he said as he landed next to her.  
  
Now the sides were equal in strenght; Kitechnum began to summon his   
Technum powers and gave, in an altered voice to preserve his secret   
identity, the rallying cry of the forces of good:   
  
"CHAAAAAAAARGE! "  
  
* * *  
  
"He`s doing good for himself, I think." the man said, observing   
calmly the battle from the construction site.  
  
"I can`t stand to watch like this and do nothing!" said the woman.   
She pointed her hand towards the battlefield and it began to charge   
up with primordial Technum. The man grabbed her by the wrist,   
forbidding her to interfere.  
  
"What do you think you`re doing?!?" he asked, angry.  
  
"Helping our brother not get killed! Would you have him seperated   
from us another thousand years?" she argued.  
  
"If this be his destiny, so be it! Techniliyis Pluto told us to do   
nothing and trust in destiny, that`s what we`ll do."  
  
"He`s our brother, he emerged from the bioengineering tanks at the   
same time we did; doesn`t that mean ANYTHING to you?" she asked,   
anger flashing in her eyes.  
  
"Would you desecrate Technazul`s memory by breaking your vow to   
Serenity? Remember that only the Prime may allow us to interfere   
with the humans if he judges it necessary, as he did when he sent   
Technuma to capture Celeste after she broke out of containment!" he   
told, reminding the woman of her obligations.  
  
The flashing pulses of Technum vanished from her hand.  
  
"You`re right. You know, you can be more rigid than Technuma   
sometimes, Noratech Neptune." she said.  
  
"And you, Technulis Mercury, are the heart of the guardians. You   
remind us not to think with our brain alone but with our souls as   
well, so don`t ever change." he replied.  
  
The fight raged on as a thunderstorm begun. Jormunder had unsheated   
Storm Seeker and things were not going well for the scouts and their   
friends.  
  
* * *  
  
Crashing bolts of lightning did horrible damage to the ground as   
they exploded all around Sailor Moon. She quickly realized that the   
sword had to go if the forces of good were to win today. Taking   
advantage that Ithzhanh and Daemonfang were busy fighting the rest   
of her friends and that strange green ninja whom Laurella seemed to   
know, she dashed forward through the rows of knightmares, giving a   
serie of punches faster than thunder streaking across the sky. She   
quickly made her way through and looked Stormrider in the eyes,   
snapping her fingers as she did so. The twenty knightmares all fell   
down to the ground, clutching their chests and stomachs.  
  
"Impressive." he said. Thunder fell from the sky, striking Storm   
Seeker and infusing Jormunder at the same time. He felt immeasurable   
pleasure from the rain wich started to pour down at that moment.  
  
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" screamed Sailor Moon as she hurled her tiara   
towards Stormrider.   
  
He laughed, using his sword to deflect the shooting disk of light.   
As he struck it, however, it glowed intensely in an explosion of   
blinding radiance unlike anything he had seen before. Blinded by   
this light, he couldn`t dodge Sailor Moon`s special "Meteor kick"   
aimed at his wrist. Storm Seeker flew into the air, circling and   
tumbling until it landed in the hand of the noble-hearted pretty   
soldier of love and justice.  
  
Unknown to her, this sword was much more than a simple piece of   
forged metal. It was a living entity trapped in the shape of a sword.   
Finally freed from the clutches of the evil Jormunder, Storm Seeker   
was only too happy to lend his legendary power to his liberator. She   
only pointed the sword in Jormunder`s direction and a bolt of   
lightning fell from the sky to incinerate him where he stood. The   
winds picked up Sailor Moon inside a small vortex, granting the   
power of flight to the champion of the earth.  
  
Usagi did not fear the lightning as she felt it as a part of   
herself.  
  
Lady Daemonfang was horrified. Her knightmares were dead or dying.   
Her servant Stormrider was obliterated. Storm Seeker was in Sailor   
Moon`s possession. Only that wretch of a son of hers remained to   
stand against those she swore vengence upon. The battle was lost.  
  
In a flash of metallic light, the portal exploded, returning to the   
tenth sphere Lady Daemonfang and her acolytes, be they alive or   
dead. A second later, only Storm Seeker remained to prove the battle   
had taken place. Not even the sudden rainstorm remained, the dark   
clouds overhead disappeared as fast as they came.  
  
The unconscious girls slowly came to, most of them showing serious   
wounds of all sorts. Tuxedo Kamen hugged his dear Sailor Moon who   
dropped down the sword wich she really did not care to keep. To   
everyone`s surprise, it rose into the air, an image of a faerie of   
some kind superimposing over the sword`s form. The strange and   
wonderful being smiled.  
  
"Thank you, pretty soldier Sailor Moon, for liberating me from   
bondage." said the spirit.  
  
"Who... what are you?" asked Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
"I am the spirit called Storm Seeker. Your legends speak of my   
passing to your world in the past. Many years ago, the one called   
Jormunder captured me in this very world as its laws dictate that   
my shape be that of the sword you used in combat to defeat your   
enemy." he explained.  
  
"Thank you for helping me, Storm Seeker." said Sailor Moon.  
  
"Since you helped me so much, I will give you my help in return,   
simply make a wish and I will make it come true." said the spirit.  
  
"Well, could you heal all my friends?" asked Usagi, concerned for   
their well being.  
  
"Done and done!" said Storm Seeker, exhilarated to use his magic to   
heal rather than destroy. The many cuts and slashes over the bodies   
of the scouts and sisters vanished. "There is still one more friend   
of yours that I can heal, but I`ll need some backup."   
  
Storm Seeker, Kitechnum and Sailor Moon vanished.  
  
* * *  
  
"I think we can rest assured that Kitechnum Jendra as been truly   
brought back to us." said Noratech Neptune. "Wait a minute, he just   
vanished along with Sailor Moon!" he added, not noticing the events   
of the past two minutes on the battlefield.  
  
"Never mind that, Noratech, I just got a written message on my   
wristband- from the PRIME!" said Technulis.  
  
"HIMSELF? What does it say?"  
  
"It gives us some coordonates to go to immediately in order to meet   
with the other guardians."  
  
"Well, let`s go then."  
  
* * *  
  
In a graveyard somewhere, Umino prayed silently over the grave of   
the girl he loved with all of his heart. Naru had been gone for two   
weeks and the pain still burned his heart as strong as the day she   
died. He should have been preparing himself to go to Usagi`s   
surprise party later in the afternoon. but he didn`t feel like it.   
All he wanted was to stay there and pray. Not even those storm   
clouds up forming up in the sky could make him leave.  
  
"Hello, Umino." said Naru`s mother as she came up to Umino.  
  
"Good day, Miss Osaka." he replied politely. "It`ll rain soon, I   
think, why did you come today?"  
  
"I don`t know, really, something told me that I just had to be here   
today, right now."  
  
"That`s weird, so did I!" said Umino.  
  
A strange group of people walked in their direction, formed of   
people neither of them had ever seen before. All of them wore a   
uniform of a different color, bearing the symbol of a planet.  
  
Sapphire blue Technuma Saturn.  
Ruby red Technara Mars.  
Pale yellow Litechnae Venus.  
Jet black Ramatech Jupiter.  
Pure white Techniliyis Pluto.  
Living turquoise Technumina Uranus.  
  
They formed silently a half circle around Naru`s grave, waiting   
for something.   
  
Umino and Naru`s mother watched them carefully, unsure of what   
to do next.  
  
These weird people were soon joined by another group composed of   
Sailor Moon, Kitechnum Jendra, Noratech Neptune, Technulis Mercury   
and... a spirit whose heart is a sword?  
  
"Why are we here?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"One of your friends requires of me a little more power if I am to   
heal her." said Storm Seeker, pointing to Naru`s grave.  
  
"But... she`s dead!" argued Sailor Moon.  
  
"Minor detail." said Storm Seeker. "Technum guardians of the silver   
millenium, you all know why you have been summoned, don`t you?"  
  
All the guardians nodded in agreement, even Kitechnum who   
intuitively knew what was needed of him.  
  
"Sailor Moon, you brought the spirit of Technazul Terra with you,   
haven`t you?" asked the spirit.  
  
"Yes." she answered.  
  
"Take your place among the circle then."  
  
The guardians encircled the young girl`s grave with Sailor Moon   
holding the silver crystal, the heart of Technazul Terra, standing   
among them. Technum flowed from the nine guardians and the crystal,   
building up in intensity to a point no seen on earth in thousands   
of years.  
  
"Young Sailor Moon, you asked of me to heal your friends. There is   
one of them wich you mourn the death of to this very day. I am owed   
a favor by the being who is the creator of the most powerful beings   
of the solar system, the Technum guardians. By focusing his power   
through his children, he will restore life to she who has none."   
said Storm Seeker.  
  
The figure of the Prime appeared in the air, looming above the   
circle of power wich was so charged that it almost seemed alive.   
It was effectively capable of creating life.  
  
The cold body of Naru rose through the ground and floated in the   
middle of the Technum circle, being infused by the energy that would   
give her new life.  
  
"Awaken, young Osaka Naru." ordered Storm Seeker.  
  
Naru began breathing again; Umino, Miss Osaka, Kitechnum and Sailor   
Moon couldn`t believe their eyes. She opened her eyes and looked   
around. She saw Sailor Moon.  
  
"I told you to have faith in destiny, Sailor Moon." she said, a   
tired smile on her lips.  
  
The energy faded and the image of the Prime looked at Storm Seeker.   
The Prime told something to the spirit without actually using any   
words, as he always did.  
  
"Yes, great Prime, your debt towards me has been repaid in full. I   
thank you." said Storm Seeker.  
  
The image of the Prime disappeared and the guardians left silently,   
including Kitechnum who went his own way. He had much to learn yet,   
the Prime had silently told him, and until he was ready he was to   
stay on earth where he belonged.  
  
Sailor Moon hugged her resurrected friend along with her boyfriend   
and mother. She was back from the dead, they couldn`t believe it.  
  
It would be hard convincing the authorities that Naru`s death was   
some kind of mistake, of confusion between the various people   
involved in declaring her deceased, but it didn`t matter now. Usagi   
had received the greatest gift she could ever receive for her   
birthday: her best friend was alive.  
  
"Thank you Usagi." whispered Naru in her friend`s ear. Usagi was   
surprised that Naru knew her secret. "There is much I have forgotten   
from the other side, but the most important is still remember."  
  
"Now if you`ll excuse me, my people are waiting for me." said Storm   
Seeker, turning ito a flashing ball of light that soared into the   
sky and towards an unknown direction.  
  
* * *  
  
In recorded history, few birthday parties have been such great   
occasions to celebrate. Usagi was reunited with her best friend   
and that was the one thing she never would have dared to hope for.   
Surrounded by all of her friends, she had opened her gifts, blown   
the seventeen candles of her cake and stuffed her mouth with the   
best food she ever ate. She was radiant and so was Umino who had   
found again the part of himself Ronmar had tried to take away.  
  
The music played and the many, many guests were scattered all over   
the Tsukino residence, talking and chatting about a variety of   
subjects, playing games and dancing.  
  
Shingo took the opportunity to meet face to face with this girl   
from his dreams, Laurella Hammerson, Sailor Jendra.  
  
"Hi." he said.  
  
"Hello, Shingo. I never would have thought that you were Usagi`s   
brother." she told him, a bit embarassed.  
  
"I know, it`s strange. I always figured my sister to be a total   
goof-off, but a superhero from the moon? That`s a shock. Kinda like   
discovering these powers I have."  
  
"Do you remember us, on the moon kingdom?" asked Laurella.  
  
"Yeah, I remember training you to use your powers, the chromatic   
blast, the prismatic seven slasher, the spectrum whiplash..."  
  
"What`s the last one?"  
  
"You don`t remember the spectrum whiplash? Well, I`ll have to teach   
you to do that one again!" laughed Shingo. "I also remember how   
close we were." he whispered.  
  
"I was wondering if you`d remember..." said Laurella, blushing.  
  
"So where do we go from here?" asked Shingo. He blushed as well,   
but felt like he was very close to her. She gave him a kiss on the   
forehead.  
  
"Why don`t we just see where this will take us?" she said.  
  
* * *  
  
Hidden under a table with a long tablecloth, Luna was enjoying a   
nice piece of salmon away from all the noise. Many of the guests   
did not know about Usagi being Sailor Moon, so she had to keep   
quiet. This wasn`t going to ruin it for her, on the contrary.  
  
Artemis slipped in under the tablecloth and joined Luna in her   
hiding place. "Hiya, Luna." he said.  
  
"You`re not getting this piece of salmon, if that`s why you`re   
here." she said in a cold voice.  
  
"That`s not why."  
  
"Why, then?" she wondered.  
  
"I`ve been thinking, Luna. About us, back then on the moon."   
Artemis said.  
  
"You know very well we`re through, Artemis, after what you`ve done."   
Luna snarled.  
  
"I want to appologize."  
  
"What?!?"  
  
Luna was quite taken aback by this sudden declaration. It had been   
over a thousand years since her breakup with the white cat and he   
always claimed he hadn`t done anything wrong in that matter.  
  
"I`m sorry, Luna. I treated you like rotten fish while you went out   
of your way to make me feel special. I`m terribly sorry for all I`ve   
done." he appologized humbly.  
  
Luna thought for a moment.  
  
"Appology accepted." she said.  
  
"Thank you, Luna, you`re wonderful." he said, turning his back to   
return to the party.  
  
"Where are you going, Artemis? There`s enough salmon here for the   
two of us!"  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru finished drinking his glass of punch, looking at Usagi   
through a window. She was sitting in the backyard, talking with the   
Dark Moon sisters, laughing and giggling in the moonlight. She had   
very much matured since the first time he met her three years ago.   
She now had much more feminine shapes, having bloomed into a young   
woman as the years went by. She had also matured emotionaly,   
turning from a careless teenager into the champion of justice Sailor   
Moon, sworn to defend earth with her life. Of course, she was still   
every bit as klutzy as she was then, but that was part of her charm.  
  
She was beautiful, sitting there with her friends. He put his hand   
in his pocket and felt the small velvet box he kept there. He had   
thought of delaying this moment for a while now, considering all   
they went through recently, his amnesia, Naru`s death, Daemonfang`s   
arrival... but everything was fine now and nothing could seem to   
go wrong.  
  
Now was the time.  
  
He went outside and coughed a little to attract attention for a   
moment.  
  
"Excuse me, ladies, may I trouble you to get a few minutes alone   
with our birthday girl?" he asked politely.  
  
"Certainly. Come on, let`s give them some privacy here!" said   
Birdie, pulling her sisters back in the house. They all giggled on   
their way in.  
  
He sat next to Usagi and took her hands into his.  
  
"Usagi, my love, we have to talk." he said.  
  
Uh-oh, sounds serious, thought Usagi.  
  
"We`ve been through some rocky times together, we suffered many   
setbacks, gone through many obstacles... and always we managed to   
endure, to make our love come out stronger." he said.  
  
Is he trying to break up with me, she wondered. No, not on my   
birthday! Besides, he has that happy "I love you" smile on his   
lips.  
  
"What I`m trying to say, Usagi, is that I want you in my life now   
more than ever, I want you there tomorrow and in a thousand years".   
He took from his pocket a little black velvet box, which he opened.   
"Usagi, will you accept this ring as a promise to one day become   
my wife?"  
  
Usagi, the talking machine, the motormouth, was at a complete loss   
for words. This moment she had dreamed of all of her life was really,   
really happening. This time, there wouldn`t be an alarm clock to   
wake her up or an evil monster to interrupt them.  
  
She looked at the golden ring and was delighted by the beautiful   
setting: a delicately crafted blue diamond shaped as a crescent   
moon along with a smaller pink diamond shaped as a star. There was   
only one response she could make to his request.  
  
"Yes, I accept." she said, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks.  
  
Mamoru gently placed the ring on her finger. All this was like a   
dream come true for the both of them. They kissed each other for   
a long time.  
  
"I simply have to show it to everyone!" she said, looking at her   
engagement ring.  
  
"Go ahead, I know you`re dying to do that." he answered with that   
loving sparkle in his eyes.  
  
She ran inside to show the wonderful ring her fiancee just gave her   
to all her friends and especially to her mother.  
  
"Mom, mom! I have some great news!" she said, waving her hand to   
show the gold band she wore.  
  
"Me too, Usagi! Guess who came back to visit us for a while!" Ikuko   
said with a big smile.  
  
Usagi`s heart stopped for a second. NO! IT COULDN`T BE....  
  
"Hi, Usagi, it`s been some time!" said a little pink-haired girl   
who looked exactly like a miniature version of Usagi.  
  
"I knew you`d be happy to see Chibi-Usa again!" said Ikuko. "Usagi?   
Hey, somebody get some cold water, Usagi just fainted!"  
  
  
The End  



	11. Not By a Longshot

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
It`s been a while since the last fanfic I wrote... major case of   
writer`s block, you see.  
  
Let`s hope it`s gone for good this time.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 11  
  
NOT BY A LONGSHOT  
  
  
Usagi couldn`t believe it.  
  
Everything in her life seemed to be going right for once, all her   
problems had vanished away.  
  
Lady Daemonfang and her army had been vanquished, Mamoru totally   
recovered his memories and had just proposed to her, Umino was   
getting over his depression and her best friend had even been   
resurrected by a powerful entity called The Prime. It was all   
perfect... or so it seemed.  
  
It was at that point that SHE showed up again from the future,   
harbinger of trouble as always: Chibi-Usa, Usagi`s daughter whom   
she would give birth to in a thousand years. The little girl was   
two years older now; she was a few inches taller and her pink   
ponytails reached halfway down her back. Even though she was more   
mature from age and her repeated battles with the dark moon, her   
sweet smile was untouched by the trials she went through.  
  
"Aren`t you happy to see me?" she asked.  
  
"Your arriving here is certainly a surprise. WHY are you here   
anyway, small lady?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"Mommy wants me to train in the past -your present- to become a   
sailor scout like she was." answered Chibi-Usa.  
  
"Didn`t you bring your luna ball?" asked Mamoru.  
  
"I don`t need it anymore, mommy gave me this." said the little girl   
as she pointed to a small locket on her blouse; it was identical in   
every way to the moon prism Usagi wore when she first became Sailor   
Moon until it was smashed in a battle against a cardian. "I can   
transform into Sailor Chibi-Moon." she proudly said, mimicking   
Sailor Moon`s victory pose.  
  
"I suppose we can assume from this that our troubles with evil   
monsters are far from over." said Usagi.  
  
"Not by a longshot!" replied Chibi-Usa.  
  
* * *  
  
Ten worlds away from the blue planet, in a parallel dimension known   
as the tenth sphere, an evil ruler called Lady Daemonfang was slowly   
beginning to rebuild her forces after her crushing defeat at the   
hands of those wretched sailor scouts and their allies. Most of her   
troops had been destroyed in the battle, but that did not matter   
much.  
  
That`s what foot soldiers are for: cannon fodder.  
  
She had successfully gaged her enemy`s strenght and knew that she   
could not afford to underestimate them again. After all, they DID   
manage to destroy her husband Ronmar, dread lord of darkness, first   
knightmare of the spheres. The plan she would prepare could now take   
these details into account. Of course, she could not act right away,   
she needed to rebuild her army to full strenght and wait for the   
dimensionnal nexus to realign itself; until then, she could only   
send a few of her minions at a time to the first sphere. Time DID   
flow faster on her side of the dimensional nexus, however, which   
gave her an edge in rebuilding herself before her enemies did.  
  
Besides, her master plan still required a crucial element vital to   
the first step, which is exactly why she was on her way to meet her   
allies at their usual meeting place. Flying through the gloomy dark   
sky, she easily avoided the crashing lightning of one of the many   
storms that permanently scarred the Changraloor landscape; a single   
hit could kill even a powerful demon, but Daemonfang was quite   
skilled in predicting its patterns as she`d flown through it   
countless times. It only took minutes to leave the storm and she   
finally made it to her rendezvous site, a boiling sulpher spring.  
  
She landed gracefully and folded her smooth leathery wings on her   
back. The putrid stench arising from the sulphurous waters made the   
demon lord smirk as it reminded her of her deceased husband. She   
missed his company- any warm blooded male`s company, actually.   
Since her VERY devoted servant Jormunder had died at the hands of   
Sailor Moon, none of the males from the tenth sphere could make her   
blood boil anymore. She`d make sure she wouldn`t be alone too long,   
however.  
  
Dipping her toes in the hot waters and thought the temperature was   
just right for her tough demon skin. She slowly curled away her   
protective second skin like a flower blooming in the morning sun,   
revealing openly her naked body. Stepping in carefully, she sat in   
a tub carved in sheer bedrock and let the sulphur laced waters   
soothe her skin.  
  
"Now THIS is truly delicious." she told herself in a sweet,   
slightly slithering voice.  
  
"Do you mind if we join you?" asked a feminine voice behind her.  
  
Turning her head, Daemonfang saw the two professional assassins who   
had managed to sneak in unnoticed. These were the allies the demon   
had come to meet, the twins Morthall and Deddlie Synn.  
  
"Won`t you come in, it`s great for the pores, don`t you know." she   
replied.  
  
The two assassins removed their black clothes and stepped in the   
putrid water, Deddlie guiding in her blind brother. Much like   
Jormunder, they looked exactly like humans except for the fact   
that they had no hair whatsoever.  
  
"It`s been too long since we came here, sister." commented Morthall.  
  
"My thoughts exactly." she replied.  
  
The demon lord of Changraloor usually didn`t like the presence of   
males while she bathed, considering it undermines her authority to   
have her underlings see her in the nude, though Morthall`s blindness   
put her right at ease.  
  
"I called you here because I have a mission for you." she said.  
  
"So we were told." replied Deddlie. " What do you have in mind?"  
  
"I`m preparing a magic ritual, one who requires a rather... unique...   
ingredient, wich you will   
fetch for me."  
  
"And where are we to find this ingredient?" asked Morthall.  
  
"On the planet earth of the first sphere, in a city called Tokyo. My   
mages will be able to provide the planar gate for the two of you.   
Unfortunately, I can`t allow you to bring anyone else along; the   
nexus is unstable right now, sending more than you two would be   
stretching it. If you follow my plan, however, it will be easy..."   
carefully explained the demon.  
  
* * *  
  
The evening ran smoothly in Tokyo, with many people going about   
their own business with little concern of what tomorrow would bring.   
In an appartment located above a successful jewelry store called   
*Osa-P*, three apparently ordinary girls were having a conversation   
about matters that concerned their lives and the strange twists they   
had taken recently.  
  
They only LOOKED ordinary. The first one was a teenage superhero   
from the moon, reincarnated after her untimely death a thousand   
years ago. The second was her young daughter from the future who   
came back to the past in order to train and become a superhero   
herself. The third one, though she had no powers or relatives from   
across time, had just been resurrected the day before by a group   
of reclusive superbeings and their creator as payment of an old   
debt to a legendary spirit called Storm Seeker.  
  
Let`s face it, life hardly gets any weirder than this.  
  
"Almost everything I learned from the other side has melted away   
while I slept last night, your explanations are really precious to   
help me make sense of it all." said Naru to Usagi. "Okay, let`s see   
if I have it all straight; Rei, Makoto, Laurella, Ami and Minako are   
all sailor scouts, Mamoru is Tuxedo Kamen, your brother just found   
out he`s a Technum guardian and he helped to bring me back to   
life..."  
  
"In a nutshell, yeah." said Usagi.  
  
"And Chibi-Usa here gets to hear all your secrets... because ?!?"   
wondered Naru.  
  
"Because I`m her daughter from the future." proudly answered   
Chibi-Usa. Usagi nodded to agree.  
  
"I`m having trouble to figure out at exactly what moment my life   
fell into the Twilight Zone..." commented Naru.  
  
"You don`t know the half of it yet." observed Usagi.  
  
* * *  
  
On the dark street below, two figures moved silently, unnoticed and   
unheard. Wearing their usual slim fitting black costumes and masks,   
they were almost impossible to detect. Only Deddlie Synn`s silver   
eyes could be seen through her disguise, though they moved too fast   
to allow detection. Her blind brother, needing no eyeholes for his   
mask, was no more than a shadow blended into the night.   
  
"It`s here, brother, Osa-P jewelry." whispered Deddlie.  
  
"Just guide me to the door and watch me make the doorlock sing."   
replied her brother.  
  
With unearthly discretion, they moved to the front door which   
Morthall proceeded to open in ten seconds flat.  
  
They were in.  
  
"Can you see the safe?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, it`s on the back wall behind the counter. I`ll guide you   
there." she said.  
  
* * *  
  
An alarm rang in the appartment above, warning of the thieves`   
presence.  
  
"Huh oh, there`s a break-in at the store, better call the police!"   
said Naru, who realized a second later that Sailor Moon was right   
there with her. "Perhaps you can help me?" she politely asked.  
  
"Certainly! MOON CRYSTAL POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
Usagi transformed in a flash of radiance into the champion of love   
and justice right in front of her amazed friend.  
  
"For three years now I wanted you to see this!" said Usagi, a big   
smile on her face.  
  
"I`m going to help too!" said Chibi-Usa. "MOON PRISM POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
The small lady transformed as well into a miniature replica of   
Sailor Moon.  
  
"Oh, you`re sooooo cute!!!" said Naru.  
  
"Just remember to be careful down there, Chibi-Usa, it could be   
dangerous." said Sailor Moon.  
  
* * *  
  
Keeping his highly sensitive ear on the safe`s cold metal door,   
Morthall slowly turned the lock`s dial to find the right   
combinaison. with a faint click, the door released its secure lock   
and opened.  
  
"Easy enough." he said.  
  
The lights turned on throughout the store, surprising the two   
burglars. Someone had been warned by the silent alarm wich protected   
the store.  
  
"What is it with evil ninjas robbing this place?!?" asked a blonde   
warrior with long ponytails. "I am the pretty soldier Sailor Moon,   
and in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"  
  
Another smaller fighter took a heroic pose similar to Sailor Moon`s   
and continued where the other one left off:  
  
"And I am Sailor Chibi-Moon, and I fight for justice against all   
evil!"  
  
"Cute." commented Deddlie Synn.  
  
"Tell me, sister, do they look as corny as they sound?" asked   
Morthall Synn.  
  
"More." she simply replied.  
  
From sheaths hanging on their backs, they each pulled a wakizashi,   
the short version of the famed katana. They both attacked Sailor   
Moon, screaming their traditional battle cry, "SHUNZERHEIST!!!",   
which can be loosely translated as "abandon all hope of existence".  
  
Why do the strange ones ALWAYS have to stop here, thought Usagi as   
she frantically dodged the slashing swords.  
  
Chibi-Usa felt quite frustrated that the two villains paid no   
attention to her at all.  
  
"PINK SUGAR HEARTS ATTACK!" screamed the little girl, shooting a   
stream of cute litle pink energy hearts into the eyes of Deddlie   
who found it to be rather annoying. She turned her attention back   
to Sailor Chibi-Moon and took from her pocket a long red ribbon   
which she used as a lasso to tie up the little girl.  
  
"It`s way past your bedtime, sugar." she said.  
  
Although Morthall had been blind from birth, he had a strangely   
accurate sense of direction whenever it came to fighting; his   
slashes came ever so close to hitting the mark each time he swung   
his short sword.  
  
"Take this, scum bucket!" yelled Sailor Moon, kicking the masked   
man in the jaw between two slashes and sending him crashing to the   
floor. His sword clanked on the hard tiles as it hit the ground.  
  
  
"You`ll pay for this, girl!" said his sister, reaching down her belt   
for a dagger which she aimed straight at Sailor Moon`s heart.  
  
Halfway across its trajectory, the silver projectile was deflected   
by a red blur and fell harmlessly to the floor- a shooting red rose   
had saved the young girl`s life. A masked man in tuxedo and cape   
stood in the doorway, holding a cane designed for combat as much as   
for appearance.  
  
"Didn`t your mother ever teach you not to play with sharp objects?   
You could put an eye out, you know." observed Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
"That`s the whole idea!" said the recovering Morthall as he sprang   
up sword in hand, slashing at the source of these taunting remarks.   
The blade came close to inflicting a lethal blow to his head, but   
gave him instead a long scratch that shaved a few hairs at the same   
time. This surprise attack left him dazed for a second, though he   
snapped out of it quickly, blocking all subsequent attacks with his   
extended cane.  
  
"Time to go, sister!" said Morthall.  
  
"Right you are, brother!" said Deddlie.  
  
Deddlie Synn threw a small flash bomb on the floor, blinding   
everyone but the two thieves for a split second, just enough time to   
afford them a quick escape. Only the ribbon tying up Sailor   
Chibi-Moon proved that they`d been there at all. Tuxedo Kamen untied   
it and Chibi-Usa decided to keep it.  
  
"You`re bleeding!" said Sailor Moon with obvious concern for her   
fiancee.  
  
"It`s just a scratch, I`ll be fine." he replied.  
  
"Let`s leave before the police gets here!" added Chibi-Usa. Her   
parents agreed.  
  
The trio left the scene as the sound of police sirens came closer   
to the jewelry store. The thieves hadn`t stolen anything, so the   
battle was won.  
  
"I`ll bet not many people have family outings like ours!" observed   
Usagi as she looked for a quiet spot to transform back into her   
everyday clothes.  
  
"Now THERE`s an understatement." said Mamoru.  
  
* * *  
  
Deep in a chamber of the Changraloor fortress, a magical laboratory   
was waiting for its owner to begin her next experiment. A complex   
network of black plantlike powerlines was steadily feeding energy to   
a shapeless mass no larger than an orange held within a large   
transparent globe.  
  
Lady Daemonfang would begin her ritual as soon as her allies would   
arrive with the critical ingredient to her wicked work.  
  
"It shouldn`t take too long, now." she thought.  
  
Surely enough, the secret door leading to this sanctuary of the   
black arts opened and let in the twins, Deddlie guiding her blind   
brother through the unfamiliar passages to help him avoid the   
unseen obstacles in his way. They had obeyed their mission   
objective, returning as fast as they could so that the ingredient   
would not degrade and lose its inherent magical properties.  
  
"Did you get it?" she asked.  
  
"Indeed." replied Morthall. "Finding it was simple, so was the   
extraction."  
  
He handed over to Daemonfang an item wrapped in a silk scarf. She   
quickly removed the blood stained scarf and revealed Morthall`s   
sword, covered with dried blood that glued a few black hairs on   
the blade.  
  
"Excellent." commented Daemonfang. "You have done well and will   
be rewarded accordingly."  
  
The assassins bowed politely and left the secret laboratory, closing   
the door behind them. The demon lord removed the hairs from the   
sword and, pushing her hand right through the transparent sphere,   
placed them on the grey shapeless mass wich readily accepted them.  
  
"Grow, now, grow! Considering the sample I gave you, you will be   
quite attractive."  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
Countless telescopes are pointed to the stars and the planets   
surrounding the earth in the hope of one day finding new life   
somewhere. Unfortunately for the people who built them, that life   
doesn`t want to be found.  
  
In orbit around the planet saturn, hidden between the ice asteroids   
that form the beautiful rings this planet is famous for, a rather   
large space station houses a group of beings whose existence had   
shaped the existence of the solar system.  
  
The Technum guardians.  
  
Comfortably housed inside Saturn Station Beta, none of them was   
supposed to ever interact with the human race again in order not   
to risk a greedy individual to covet the guardians` huge power and   
endanger the continued existence of the planetary Technum flux. In   
the past year, however, many events had forced the guardians to   
reveal themselves on more than one occasion, forcing them to go   
against their thousand year old pledge of secrecy to Queen serenity.  
  
The guardians`creator, the Prime, had decided that more or less   
direct intervention was necessary to honor the spirit of their   
pledge, if not its exact wording.  
  
One of those guardians, Technuma Saturn, got more than his fair   
share of meddling ever since the prison ship Pegasus had accidentaly   
released Celeste, the fallen Sailor Mars, from her deep space   
confinement. He tried desperately to stay out of human history but   
kept getting dragged back in. The recent massacre of his student   
Sailor Saturn was just one more problem that only his direct actions   
could solve... although he wouldn`t do a thing if it meant breaking   
his pledge yet again. Technuma was probably the most rigid guardian   
as far as honoring the ancient pledge went, though he was almost   
always the one forced to go against it when events went from bad to   
worse.  
  
The Prime wanted to meet him now, and he could already imagine he`d   
be getting the "be true to your pledge" speech from his creator.   
Well, it wouldn`t really be a speech, seeing how the Prime   
communicated through an unusual form of telepathy; what he wanted   
to tell you, you instantly knew. Don`t ask why, you just did.  
  
The door to the Prime`s meditation room opened and Technuma walked   
in. He was always impressed by the room`s layout, a totally   
spherical glass room allowing anyone there to see the stars and   
planets surrounding Saturn Station Beta, all of wich seemed in   
complete harmony with the light grey skinned being sitting on a   
small platform in the exact middle of the room. Technuma Saturn   
took the narrow bridge connecting the door to the platform and sat   
in a stiff lotus position in front of the ancient being.  
  
"I believe I know why you called for me. No doubt it regards my   
project *Second Coming*." said Technuma. The Prime looked at him   
and instantly, Technuma knew what he meant to say.  
  
"It was easy to guess. This project goes against everything our   
pledge stands for, I was certain you`d reject it the instant I   
submitted it two weeks ago." said Technuma.  
  
The Prime frowned. Technuma was surprised by his "answer".  
  
"You... didn`t... reject it yet? I don`t understand! Second Coming   
was a project my conscience forced me to create, but I was sure   
you`d never allow me to go forward!" protested Technuma, unsure   
why the Prime would permit further intervention from the guardians.  
  
The Prime`s expression changed again, turning to a neutral smile.  
  
"Of course I want to do it, I thought of nothing but that since her   
death at the hands of that tenth sphere monster! All I want to know   
is... why are you allowing me to go ahead?" asked Technuma.  
  
The Prime waved his left hand and a beautiful blue crystal appeared   
out of nowhere, floating in front of Technuma. It projected a small   
light beam wich formed an image of Queen Serenity who began to speak.  
  
"Greetings, mighty guardian. As you stand now, I have passed away   
for a very long time and your kind has stayed away from the   
inhabitants of the silver millenium in order to protect them by   
keeping your existence secret. Unfortunately, I foresee dark clouds   
over my children and their own children, I fear for their safety.   
You have trained the greatest protectors this kingdom has ever known,   
though I`m afraid they might one day be overwhelmed by the evil they   
face. In order not to endanger them by forcing you out of a   
situation where only you and your kind may hold the key to victory,   
I have given your creator, The Prime, permission to temporarily   
release you from your pledge if he deems it necessary. If you are   
viewing this message, then this moment has come and your   
intervention is unavoidable." she declared.   
  
She paused for a moment, then continued:  
  
"If you are viewing this message, Technuma Saturn, then I must urge   
you to please let go of your guilt; Laurella and Kitechnum`s deaths   
were not your fault, as they were forged in destiny long before your   
birth. Right now, your skills are required to save countless lives.   
Please do not let the pain of the past stop you from forging the   
glory of the future!"  
  
The image disappeared and so did the blue crystal.  
  
"Yes, I do understand now. I`ll get started right away." said   
Technuma. He left the meditation room and headed straight for his   
medical lab. The guardian had his work cut out for him, and he felt   
once again the burning fire of passion he hadn`t felt in centuries.  
  
He truly felt alive.  
  
  
The End.  



	12. Things Left Unsaid

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 12  
  
THINGS LEFT UNSAID  
  
  
Words are like wild birds; once unleashed, you just can`t catch   
them again.   
  
* * *  
  
Over two years ago...  
  
Nephryte brought his red sports car to a halt in front of his small   
cabin in the woods. For some reason, this part of the forest was   
permanently shrouded in deep fog. He entered the cabin and looked   
up at the very high ceiling; what little light there was inside the   
empty house seemed to curl away in horror at the sight of the dark   
kingdom warrior.  
  
He had another one of his energy gathering ploys proceeding at that   
very moment; he needed to witness how his plan was proceeding.  
  
"The stars know everything..." he said, looking at the scale map of   
the galaxy forming in the air around him. "Show me my latest victim,   
the ice sculptor Brandon Pierson."  
  
By pretending to be interested in ice sculpture, Nephryte had   
borrowed Brandon`s chainsaw for a moment and marked it with a dark   
kingdom symbol that greatly increased his creative energy, as well   
as corrupting his behavior beyond recognition. The young man had   
turned from a friendly teenager into a cold hearted jerk driven by   
his craft. Brandon was mean and insulted all those who spoke to him   
and his employers at the ski resort where he worked considered   
firing him.  
  
In short, all was going as planned.  
  
* * *  
  
By yet another one of those strange coincidences that drove their   
lives, the three sailor scouts were spending the day at the very   
resort where Brandon worked; Luna could feel the evil emanating from   
within the sculptor, she was certain something was wrong with him.   
Rei, Ami and Usagi thus found themselves going through a small patch   
of woods leading to the mountainside where he had a workplace set   
up. The north side of this particular mountain was covered with ice,   
his primary source of raw material, with a wide plateau looming over   
a deep chasm. All over the plateau, ice sculptures stood silently,   
their shapes inspired by Brandon`s hideously warped psyche. Each one   
of them was frighteningly realistic in its details.  
  
There he was, working frantically on a huge ice colossus, his face   
distorted by the dark kingdom`s influence; he looked totally crazed   
with creative ecstasy.  
  
"Maybe we should come back later? He looks busy right now..."   
suggested Usagi.  
  
"I`m sure Mamoru would be happy to see us return to the lodge so   
soon." said Rei.  
  
"It`s bad enough he had to come here with us, I`m not going back if   
that creep is there!" protested Usagi, throwing her fists in the   
air. Rei knew that just mentionning his name would be enough to   
pump up Usagi.   
  
Alerted by their bickering, the sculptor turned around and took   
notice of the three intruders; he switched off his chainsaw.  
  
"What do we have here? A public to behold my greatest work, my   
masterpiece!" he said, pointing to the huge ice colossus he`d just   
finished.  
  
"Brandon, we`re all very concerned for you!" said Ami.  
  
"No need to be, love. I`ve never been so creative, I`m really   
cooking now- this statue I made, it`s almost... ALIVE!!!" he replied,   
laughing menacingly. His statue effectively started to move, heading   
towards the girls with the ground shaking under the stomping of its   
large feet. An evil blue glow of energy bathed the young ice   
sculptor.  
  
The girls transformed immediately, ready to fight. Sailor Mars` fire   
soul attack quickly melted the forzen menace.  
  
From his house in the woods, Nephryte felt the sudden surge of   
energy from his victim and knew it was time to strike.  
  
"His power has reached its zenith. Now, Mimick, take his energy for   
the glory of the dark kingdom!" he screamed as he brought in view   
the scene through the power of the stars.  
  
The blade of Brandon`s chainsaw glowed intensely from the evil dark   
kingdom sign Nephryte placed there. A faceless, feminine looking   
humanoid being made of a thick blue liquid emerged from the surging   
light, draining all of Brandon`s energy.  
  
"I am the Mimick- all you do and all you are- that I am and more."   
she said in a sordid haiku. To show off her power, Mimick molded   
herself into an exact replica of Sailor Mars, though she remained   
entirely blue of color. This, however, did not stop her from copying   
her template`s powers. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, jin, retsu, sai, zen.   
Akuryou taisan!" she said, duplicating exactly Mars` mantra for   
using magic charms; she threw one to Sailor Mercury who was   
paralyzed instantly.  
  
"Can`t... move..." she was barely able to utter.  
  
The other two scouts tried to use their own powers, but were stopped   
by a screeching fireball sent in their direction by Mimick.  
  
"This is fun!" said the blue Sailor Mars look-alike, changing into a   
cobalt blue version of Sailor Moon. She was preparing to finish the   
job, reaching for her tiara to shred her helpless opponents. "MOON   
TIARA..."  
  
Just before her blue tiara could turn into a glowing disk, Mimick`s   
hand was slashed by a flying projectile, a red rose. Tuxedo Kamen,   
standing atop a tall ice sculpture, had arrived with his usual   
perfect timing.  
  
"Ice is the beauty of winter, it is not meant to be the tool of   
monsters such as yourself." he said. His work done, he leapt away   
and vanished.  
  
Having recovered from the previous assault, Sailor Moon and Mars   
were now ready to strike back with a combined attack.  
  
"FIRE SOUL!"  
  
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"  
  
The fireball engulfed the soaring golden disk, turning it into a   
burning projectile of fiery doom. Mimick jumped aside, barely   
avoiding it.  
  
"You missed me!" she taunted, though she did not see the disk hit   
the mountainside head-on, melting a large amount of the ice that   
Brandon used as his working material supply; the resulting avalanche   
came crashing onto Mimick, scooping her up and dragging her down the   
nearby crevasse. "NOOOOO!!! " she screamed as she fell deep in the   
chasm to her dreadful end.  
  
"Good riddance!" said Sailor Mars as she removed the charm that   
held Mercury stiffer than a marble statue.  
  
"Serves her right for trying to steal our faces." said Sailor Moon   
who burned her fingers as she tried to pick up her red hot tiara.   
She looked at Brandon; he was lying unconscious in the snow, but   
he`d be all right in a day or two. The battle was won once again.  
  
* * *  
  
Today...  
  
Summer`s end drew near as august prepared to say goodbye to Japan,   
returning again in a year as it always did. This particular year had   
been very emotional for a group of very special girls known as the   
sailor scouts, facing a horde of new enemies as old ones vanished   
into oblivion, coming to term with their supressed feelings,   
learning more about their past and gaining some new allies in their   
battle against all things evil.  
  
Speaking of their new enemy, it had been over two months now since   
their last battle against the vicious ruler of the Changraloor   
stormlands of the tenth sphere, Lady Daemonfang; the defeat she`d   
been inflicted had been a heavy one indeed. The only other instance   
of a monster attack was a pair of powerful ninjas breaking in at   
Osa-P jewelry, but there`d been no follow-up of any kind since   
then. This period of much deserved peace gave the girls plenty of   
time to study for their college entry exam, the most important one   
in any japanese student`s life.  
  
Needless to say, Usagi`s parents were VERY nervous. Study sessions   
went by, then the test.  
  
Results were finally in; the girls did good, especially Ami whose   
result went through the roof. Even Usagi got a grade slightly above   
average which, although not extraordinary, would ensure her a good   
education at a respectable college. This certainly required some   
major celebrating from the girl whose future was less than certain   
just a year before.  
  
Usagi was at a small cafe with Rei and Makoto, enjoying a milkshake   
to help down the large meal she just ate and wondering what to do   
with the afternoon when she`d be done shopping with Makoto.  
  
"You did really well, Usagi." complimented Rei.  
  
"I had good motivation to." she said, showing her engagement ring.   
"I don`t want to embarass my future husband by being a drop-out."  
  
Dragging her fork through her plate, the silent Makoto felt her   
heart shake as if a huge fist crushed it mercilessly. For months   
now, she had dreaded this moment would come. "I`ll just have to go   
to the bathroom before we leave." said Usagi as she went to the   
women`s room.  
  
Rei guessed what Makoto was thinking and went right to the point.  
  
"Don`t chicken out on us, Makoto, you know it must be done better   
than any of us. Must I remind you it was YOUR idea?" she whispered.  
  
"I wish there was another way to deal with this..." she replied.  
  
"It`s been months now and she`s done nothing about it. She`s even   
gotten worse, I think. There IS no other way; we all took a vote and   
it was unanimous: now that she`s engaged to Mamoru, there`s no   
turning back."  
  
"I`m afraid you`re right." said Makoto, resigned. "I`ll call to   
check if everything is ready over there." said Makoto who went to   
the restaurant`s phone booth and dialed her appartment`s number.   
A woman answered.  
  
"It`s me." said Makoto. "I`m calling to ask if you`re ready for   
her."  
  
"Everything`s set, you can bring her here. By the way, your knives   
were way too dull! How do you expect anyone to cut through bones   
with these butter knives you dare to call meat cleavers? I had to   
sharpen them up something fierce." said the woman.  
  
"Right, I trust your judgement on that. I`ll bring her now." Makoto   
said, hanging up.   
  
How could she do something like this to her friend? Let`s face it,   
she had no choice. Usagi never learned by herself... all those   
opportunities she wasted over the years... someone had to MAKE her   
learn. Usagi knocked on the booth`s door, smiling happily like a   
lamb walking to slaughter. She obviously didn`t have a clue of what   
was waiting for her.  
  
"So, ready to go?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Yeah." she said, leaving the booth and faking a smile. "Do you   
mind if we stop by my place first, I need to pick up my other purse."  
  
"No problem, it`s close by."  
  
Rei watched Usagi leave with Makoto and thought that the scouts   
should have done this a long time ago. Suddenly, she burped loudly;   
she took a quick glance at her empty dishes and realized she`d eaten   
as much as Usagi, wich was no small task. And let`s not forget the   
three ice cream cones Usagi talked her into slurping down the other   
evening... no wonder she`d been waking up sick so often lately. She   
would have to be careful, otherwise she`d turn into a meatball head   
herself.  
  
* * *  
  
"Okay, fire up those charges!" ordered the foreman through his   
megaphone.  
  
A mighty blast of dynamite shook the ice covered stone of the rocky   
cliff where a tunnel was scheduled for construction; it had to be   
ready for the following year, so speedy work was critical. This   
new road built that would go through the mountain would surely   
attract more people to the dying ski ressort on the other side.  
  
Pebbles and dust flew all over as well as a multitude of ice pellets.   
The first blast did the job perfectly, clearing away most of the   
thick ice cover that buried the mountainside.  
  
"Nicely done, guys, let`s clear up this rubble and get ready for the   
next blast." said the foreman.  
  
One of the workers noticed that one of the larger ice chunks   
contained a body, feminine looking, though not much more could be   
seen clearly through the rough ice surface. Unsure whether this was   
an ancient corpse from a civilisation long forgotten, an accident   
or even a murder, they called the police.  
  
"How old could it be?" asked one of the workers.  
  
"Part of the ice here melts every summer and most of it has been   
here for who knows how long. It`ll take a scientist to tell us for   
sure." said another.  
  
* * *  
  
With her hand trembling ever so slightly, Makoto turned the key in   
her appartment`s door lock and invited in Usagi who was amazed as   
always by the spotless sparkle of the floor, furniture and walls.   
How much time did Makoto spend cleaning anyway?  
  
"I have some cookies I made last night in the kitchen." said Makoto,   
pausing to make sure her voice wasn`t going to let Usagi know of   
the anguish she felt at the moment. "You`re welcome to help   
yourself to some."  
  
"Thanks, I think I will." said Usagi, already imagining her friend`s   
sweet cookies melting in her mouth.  
  
Hook, line and sinker. Poor Usagi... how could she do this to her   
best friend, Makoto wondered. After all, wasn`t Usagi the only girl   
at school who wasn`t scared of her reputation as a fighting bully,   
who gave her a chance in the first place? No, this had to be done.  
  
For the sake of all those involved, Makoto couldn`t turn back. Not   
now.  
  
The unsuspecting Usagi entered the kitchen and saw a tall woman   
standing there, staring at her, holding a very sharp knife in her   
hand. Her heart stopped beating for a second, her muscles frozen   
in silent terror.  
  
"So there you are, little Usagi! When I`m done with you, not even   
your own mother will recognize you!" she said, skillfully spinning   
the knife around with her hands.  
  
Barely able to think, Usagi backed off slowly only to bump into   
Makoto who towered over her. The tall brunette grabbed Usagi by   
both arms, easily holding her in place. "This is for your own good,   
Usagi. The others all agree this MUST be done, you know it too."   
she said in a firm voice.  
  
"NOOO! I`m begging you, you can`t let this happen!" pleaded Usagi   
who just realized what the two women had planned for her.  
  
"For the next few hours, Cassidy Carter will teach you how to cook   
properly!" said Cassidy, handing over the knife to Usagi. "First of   
all, you`ll learn to cut vegetables the right way, so get chopping,   
girl!"  
  
Usagi began to cry, for she knew for sure that she was in hell. The   
blonde girl who was famous for burning water, ruining cereal and   
forgetting the recipe for ice cubes was about to receive a private   
cooking lesson from the most demanding chef in town. To make a long   
story short, the gates of hell were about to open in Makoto`s   
kitchen.  
  
* * *  
  
Carving meticulously through the thick ice block, the doctors and   
and scientists were finally able to uncover something so bizarre   
that it could rival with hangar 54 in Roswell, Texas. A strange   
female humanoid with no defined features rested on their examination   
table, her entire body made from some sort of very thick, viscous,   
cobalt blue liquid.  
  
"It`s alien, it has to be." said the doctor leading this   
investigation.  
  
"I`m not quite sure if there`s even a single trace of water in this   
creature; do you see how fast it`s warming up to room temperature   
so soon after we carved it out of the ice block?" observed another   
doctor.  
  
"Whatever it is, we can`t let the media find out about it, just   
imagine the panic this would create among the public!" commented a   
paleontologist. The other scientists present all agreed.  
  
"There are a few people who know about this discovery, but they`ll   
be easy to convince that it`s just some old mannequin who simply got   
in this ice by accident. In a few days, no one will even remember   
about this incident." reassured the doctor who was eager to study   
the strange being.  
  
"We absolutely MUST extract samples as soon as possible. I want to   
see its DNA structure, assuming it even has one..." concluded a   
biologist.  
  
She was alien all right. Her mind slowly arose out of the coma that   
had been induced by the freezing cold over two years ago and began   
to think of escape. Mimick would have to wait a while longer before   
she could move again, but she`d be ready to resume her mission: to   
destroy the three girls who gave her masters so many problems, the   
sailor scouts.  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto walked down the street in shock; she couldn`t believe how   
much Usagi was messing up her kitchen. After a while, Cassidy had   
decided to spare her friend the trauma of being subjected to this   
terrible spectacle and sent her out of her appartment until dinner   
was finished and Usagi had cleaned up the mess.  
  
Trying to forget about the unimaginable amount of cleaning her place   
would need after this cooking lesson, Makoto was on her to Minako`s   
home. She was bringing her back the brooch she borrowed the week   
before; anything to stay away from the disaster area.  
  
Makoto rang the doorbell and Minako`s mother answered, smiling as   
always. "Hello, Makoto, it`s nice to see you." she said. "Minako is   
in her room with Ami, I think they`re watching some french movies.   
It`s a nice change from all that studying they did for their   
entrance exam."  
  
"They do work great together." observed Makoto as she came in.  
  
French movies? Not very surprising, thought Makoto. Minako already   
spoke great french in addition to her very good english. Living in   
Europe all these years had helped learn many languages. Ami had a   
natural talent for learning languages as well... was there anything   
this girl couldn`t learn?  
  
She walked up the stairs and heard incomprehensible babble coming out   
of Minako`s room- the french language sounded like gibberish to her.   
Hoping that this movie had subtitles, Makoto opened the door and   
said hello. Well, she didn`t really say hello. She was too stunned to   
speak the whole word through, although what she did say reflected   
perfectly her state of mind when she saw Ami and Minako sitting on   
the bed, hugging and kissing passionately. Obviously, they hadn`t   
heard Makoto walking over the corridor to Minako`s bedroom.  
  
"What are you two doing?!?" she screamed.  
  
The lovebirds suddenly snapped out of it and noticed someone was   
watching; they stopped immediately and Ami rushed to remove traces   
of Minako`s pink lipstick from her cheeks and neck.  
  
"Hum... you see..." mumbled Minako, trying desperately to find an   
explanation.  
  
"You were making out?!" asked Makoto.  
  
"You don`t understand, let me explain..." said Ami who blushed more   
than she ever did before in her entire life.  
  
The bewildered Makoto felt her stomach twist and her head spin in   
revulsion; this was simply too weird for her. She dropped the golden   
brooch on the floor and left without a word. Minako ran after her   
while Ami just stayed there, crying in silence. A minute or two   
later, she followed them, though at a much slower speed. She had   
feared this from the start and it had begun: their friends would   
turn away from them, branding them as freaks.  
  
"Ami, what happened? Minako and her friend just left in a hurry."   
said Miss Aino.  
  
"It`s a bit hard to explain right now, but I promise I`ll come back   
later with Minako and all will be clear then." replied Ami as she   
left.  
  
* * *  
  
Carefully examining the strange body of Mimick, the team of   
specialist was especially amazed at the liquid body wich seemed to   
maintain its preset basic humanoid form. It had now reached a stable   
temperature somewhat lower than the human body though it was higher   
than room temperature.  
  
"I think there could be some source of heat in this alien`s body;   
that would certainly explain a lot." observed a doctor.  
  
Then, to everyone`s surprise, Mimick opened her eyes. She sat up   
and looked around at the four scientists, searching for any useful   
abilities she could copy. They had none, but that didn`t matter.   
She geeted them with her usual haiku:  
  
I am the Mimick  
All you do and all you are  
That I am and more  
  
Her hands, delicate and small, morphed into lethal claws; this was   
one of the rare things she could do without a model to copy it from   
and was more than enough to ensure four swift kills. No one could   
stop the youma from achieving her mission for her master Nephryte.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella and Rei set up the table as they awaited the dinner which   
was being prepared by the sweating Usagi. Cassidy was running the   
girl with a vengence like a vicious drill sergeant.  
  
"I can`t wait until she`s done, I`m famished!" said Rei, her   
stomach growling.  
  
"I hope her cooking has improved, I heard stories of her earlier   
attempts at making food..." observed the concerned Laurella.  
  
"I`m sure she`s much better, it smells delicious." said Rei.  
  
"Shouldn`t Makoto be here by now? It`s almost six o`clock." noticed   
Laurella after taking a look at her watch.  
  
"She probably went to see Minako and Ami to make sure they`d be here   
too."  
  
As if on cue, Makoto blasted in and sat down at the table with her   
friends without as much as a simple hello. Her face spoke of untold   
anger and betrayal.  
  
"Whoa, what happened? You look like you`ve just been dumped, but   
you don`t even have a boyfriend..." commented Rei.  
  
Minako came in a few seconds later, peeking in cautiously before   
entering Makoto`s appartment; she seemed very embarassed. "Makoto,   
we really have to talk about... you know what." she whispered.  
  
Without looking at her, Makoto went to her room and slammed the   
door shut with all her might, making the walls tremble.  
  
"Did we miss something?" asked Laurella.  
  
"We had a misunderstanding." Minako answered. While Rei and Usagi   
argued quite often, Makoto and Minako compensated numbers with sheer   
intensity; their fights, tough few and far between, were powerful   
enough to shake whole cities and flatten mountains.  
  
"You`ll work it out quickly enough, you always do." said Rei.  
  
"This time, it`s a lot more complicated." replied Minako, barely   
holding herself from crying.  
  
Ami entered the appartment in pursuit of her two friends and looked   
very embarassed as well. "Did you speak with her?" she asked.  
  
"No, she won`t listen." replied Minako.  
  
"What`s this all about?" asked Usagi as she brought in warm dishes   
from the kitchen to the table.  
  
"Since Makoto knows already, maybe we should just get it out in the   
open, be finally rid of this secrecy once and for all." suggested   
Ami.  
  
"I don`t know, maybe we should wait longer." said Minako.  
  
"I`m tired of hiding! Can`t we just let everybody know and let THEM   
deal with it? We`re not the ones with the problem, after all..."   
said Ami with conviction.  
  
"Yes, I guess you`re right..." said Minako. She turned to Rei, Usagi   
and Laurella and made the hardest confession of her life. "Makoto   
caught me making out with Ami. We`re deeply in love." she said,   
looking Ami straight in her eyes.  
  
"That`s right. We found in each other the missing part of   
ourselves." added Ami.  
  
These words stunned everyone.  
  
"Oh." blurted out Rei.  
  
"Did I hear this right?" asked Laurella.  
  
"You did." answered Minako, taking Ami`s hand in hers. An   
uncomfortable silence floated in the dining room while this   
heartfelt declaration of love made its way through everyone`s mind.   
Usagi was the first one to speak, asking Minako a question that had   
been nagging her for a while.  
  
"So, Minako, is Ami a good kisser?" she asked, getting a few burning   
stares in her direction. "What? We all wanted to know and Ami`s only   
known boyfriend wouldn`t say!" she said in self-defense.  
  
"Let`s discuss this over dinner, Usagi`s meal is getting cold. I   
think I can talk Makoto out of her room." said Cassidy, bringing   
more dishes to the table.  
  
And so she did. Makoto and the other girls enjoyed very much the   
delicious meal prepared by the now talented Usagi. The cook herself,   
however, was so tired she could barely hold her head up above her   
plate. Although the meal itself was fine, the conversation was   
strikingly cold. Makoto refused to talk to either Minako or Ami,   
avoiding their gazes whenever possible. The others tried to get   
her to listen, but she wouldn`t hear of it. In the end, they all   
left hoping that a good night sleep might put her thoughts back   
into place.  
  
Before leaving, Cassidy left her friends with a few words of wisdom.  
  
"You should be careful how you treat your friends, you know. Are   
they any different than before you discovered their secret? Think   
about it." she said, picking up her jacket and purse. She thought   
of something and whispered a last comment in Makoto`s ear. "Usagi   
was a cooking disaster before you left her in my care, you owe me   
big, girl."  
  
Left alone in her empty appartment, Makoto sulked in her own sorrow.   
She couldn`t believe this! She always felt comfort in the fact that   
she wasn`t alone searching for a nice guy, that her friends were   
coming along for the ride. Now that they`d given up on men, she felt   
betrayed and lonely.  
  
She stormed out of her appartment, deeply confused.  
  
* * *  
  
Back at Minako`s home, the loving couple wondered what would the   
world`s reaction to their relationship.  
  
"I knew that this would happen the instant we would speak up." said   
Minako. "I can`t wait until our own families regard us as lepers."  
  
"That`s just the shock from surprising us earlier in your room, just   
give her some time." said Ami, putting her arm around Minako`s waist   
and leaning her head on her girlfriend`s shoulder, letting the silky   
golden hair caress her skin.  
  
"You think so?"  
  
"I know so. We`ve been through so much together, she won`t turn her   
back on us so easily."  
  
Ami`s words were reassuring to Minako.  
  
"You`re probably right. This is going to be a real test of   
friendship, you know. All the people who just pretend to be our   
friends will be the first ones pointing fingers." observed Minako.  
  
"Those who will point fingers will only reveal themselves as the   
shallow people that they are. Such people don`t deserve to be   
called friends at all." replied Ami.  
  
The front door unlocked and Miss Aino came in along with Miss   
Mizuno. They had met through their daughters and became good   
friends as well.  
  
"Hello girls, we didn`t know you`d be back in time to watch this   
movie we rented, you`re both welcome to join us." said Minako`s   
mother.  
  
Minako looked in her lover`s eyes, her face showing worry and   
hesitation; Ami`s face, however, was showing resolve and confidance.   
She nodded in approval.  
  
"Mom, Miss Mizuno, Ami and I have something important to talk about   
with you..."  
  
* * *  
  
Panic stricken people on the street stared at the cobalt blue youma,   
confused and amazed at the faceless being.  
  
"Where are they? Where are the SAILOR SCOUTS?" she screamed.  
  
No one seemed to know what to do about her until she began tearing   
up cars, breaking store windows with torn car doors and ripping up   
parking meters. By then, they figured escape was their best option.   
That, and dodging to avoid the heavy projectiles as well.  
  
* * *  
  
"Leave me alone!" yelled Usagi in terror. She was surrounded by   
hordes of evil carrots, potatoes and tomatoes wielding forks and   
spoons. Her only weapons to defend herself were a potato peeler and   
a tiny fruit knife. "Stay away, I`m not afraid to use these!" she   
screamed to the angry mob of vegetables.  
  
Luna and Chibi-Usa pulled the sleeping Usagi out of her comatose   
sleep, forcing her to sit up straight on the sofa where she   
collapsed half an hour earlier when she came home.  
  
"I`ll make supper with the lot of you yet." she mumbled through her   
half-asleep state.  
  
"Wake up, meatball-head! It says on television that there`s trouble   
a couple of blocks away from here!" said the pink-haired girl,   
dragging Usagi to the front door.  
  
"Yes, we need the sailor scouts!" added Luna.  
  
"Gotta call the others quickly..." mumbled Usagi who hoped this   
would be taken care of fast. She couldn`t remember the last time   
she`d been so tired... she was so sleepy, she couldn`t remember much   
of anything else, for that matter.  
  
Even though Usagi hadn`t pushed the button on her comm-watch yet, her   
friend Makoto was already in the thick of things. Her frustrated walk   
had led her to a trail of wrecked cars and trashed storefronts which   
she followed in a hurry. A quick trip in a dark alley allowed her to   
change into the powerful Sailor Jupiter. Frustration fueled her   
aggressivity tenfold; she was thrilled to have a target to vent her   
pent-up anger on at last.  
  
A big raging monster trashing the city was just what the doctor   
ordered. Running down the ravaged streets, some people recognized   
Jupiter and cheered; the scouts had undeniably gained popularity   
over the years. It wasn`t too hard to find the culprit of this   
rampage; a female humanoid thing made of blue jello isn`t something   
you see every day. A youma, obviously; her form was that of a generic   
humanoid female though it was bland and totally uncharacteristic.  
  
"WHERE ARE THEY?!?" screamed the monster as it tossed a station   
wagon into a drugstore.  
  
"Stop this right now, one of us is right here!" yelled Jupiter,   
stricking a heroic pose. Mimick turned around slowly and recognized   
the uniform, but not the girl.  
  
"And who might you be?" asked the youma.  
  
"I am Sailor Jupiter, I fight for justice everywhere, I strive for   
peace and order everywhere unlike slime like you!" said Jupiter   
under the cheers of the people around.  
  
"Not quite slime, actually, I`m made of proteoplasm to be exact."  
  
"Doesn`t matter what you`re made of. Who are you? How dare you   
destroy my city?"  
  
"I am the Mimick, all you do and all you are, that I am and more."   
said Mimick in a theatrical fashion.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Just watch, you`ll understand fast enough." said the youma, staring   
coldly at Sailor Jupiter. Her viscous body morphed into an exact   
replica of Jupiter, although it kept its blue color.  
  
"How the hell did you do that?" asked the bewildered Jupiter.  
  
"It`s insultingly easy when you know how!" replied Mimick. "Since   
you enjoy fighting so much, let`s see how well you do against...   
YOURSELF!"  
  
* * *  
  
"Yes, Usagi, we`ll be right there, we`re already tracking down the   
path of destruction." said Ami through her comm-watch wich she   
conceiled from public view with Minako`s help. "There`s something   
familiar about the description of the monster Usagi just gave me,   
I can`t quite put my finger on it, though."  
  
"Don`t worry about it, we`ll trash that monster like all the others   
before!" said Minako with enthusiasm.  
  
After a quickchange and a few hundred meters run, they reached the   
battle scene. Things were looking pretty ugly as Mimick was   
obviously keeping on top of Sailor Jupiter who barely remained   
conscious. Thrown left and right, punched needlessly and kicked   
without any end in sight, she was bleeding a lot and silently   
praying for help. Mercury immediately remembered the blue   
shapeshifter.  
  
"MIMICK! I thought we destroyed her years ago!" she said.  
  
"What do you know of her?" asked Venus.  
  
"She needs a model to keep her shape, if she can`t see us, she can`t   
do much... also, we need to attack all at once because she can best   
any one of us individually, like she did to Jupiter."  
  
"Then let`s go!" said Venus, jumping boldly into the fray to take   
the creature by surprise. Blindsided, mimick took a couple of hits   
from Venus before she could change shape to match her new attacker`s.  
  
Taking advantage of Mimick`s distraction, Sailor Mercury went to   
Jupiter`s help. "Can you stand up?" she asked.  
  
"Just gimme a second..." uttered Jupiter. Her karate teacher`s first   
lesson was that any man could easily be neutralized with a swift   
kick between his legs; he forgot to mention, however, that a knee   
kick to the pelvis can do the same to any woman as Jupiter was   
painfully discovering.  
  
Venus, fighting Mimick alone, was starting to have trouble of her   
own; Mimick, now looking exactly like her, was giving her a beating   
like she never had before. The youma was quite surprised that there   
were more scouts than she remembered, but it didn`t matter. She`d   
kill them all like her master Nephryte commanded. Before she could   
give the final blow to Venus, however, a bolt of lightning crackled   
through the air and struck her squarely in the back. Losing her   
concentration, she reverted to her generic form. She turned around   
to face the battered but unbowed Sailor Jupiter.   
  
"That was NOT smart." said the youma.  
  
"That`s what YOU think." said Mercury from another side. "MERCURY   
BUBBLE BLAST!"  
  
The bubbles collided with Mimick, creating a thick shroud around her.   
Unable to maintain visual contact with anyone, she was stuck in her   
basic form. She extended her claws and ran to a spot where she saw a   
human form peering through the fog; slashing furiously, she shredded   
to bits an ice statue improvised by Mercury to draw away her   
attention "WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS?" she screamed when she realized   
she`d been fooled.  
  
"We must use all our powers in a single blast!" said Mercury.   
  
"Right!" agreed the two others.  
  
"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"  
  
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"  
  
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"  
  
Venus`s golden energy chain connected with Jupiter`s thunder ball   
and Mercury`s ice blast, resulting in one of the most lethal   
combination attacks the scouts had created yet.  
  
"COLD THUNDER SPEAR!" screamed the three scouts as the ice harpoon   
charged with the power of lightning soared towards Mimick, tearing   
through her chest. As life seeped out of its frozen body, the youma   
fell to dust on the ground. A sudden gust of wind blew away both the   
dust and the fog.  
  
"Moondusted!" said Venus. The others looked at her with a weird gaze.   
"Sailor Moon wasn`t here to say it, someone had to!" she argued.  
  
With the thrill of battle slowly fading away Makoto began to feel   
ashamed for her conduct with her friends earlier that evening. "I`d   
like to... appologize for what I said at the dinner, I guess I   
ruined it for everyone. I think it`s fabulous that the two of you   
finally found love; seeing you together just reminded me how lonely   
I am myself. I`m really sorry." she explained.  
  
"Don`t beat yourself up for that, we couldn`t possibly be mad at   
you." said minako.  
  
"I admit it was a shock. Our mothers were surprised as well when we   
told them, but they took it well. All you needed was a little time   
to get used to the idea. Besides, the real test of friendship will   
come from other people when they learn about us." added Ami.  
  
"It`s not going to be easy for anyone." said Minako.  
  
"I`ll be there for you, girls." said Makoto. She then remembered   
that she had taken a shower with the two of them at the public pool   
the week before. "HACK! Were you two checking me out in the   
showers?!?"  
  
"Don`t be ridiculous, you`re our friend!" answered Ami.  
  
"Yeah, we`d never look at you in that way." said Minako.  
  
"That`s reassuring." said Makoto. She then saw the other three   
scouts running their way, unaware that the fight was already over,   
so she went their way to tell them of their victory using a new   
combo attack.  
  
"I`m glad we didn`t lose any friends among the sailor scouts, it   
would have been really sad if you consider all we`ve been through   
together. I`m happy Makoto finally accepted us." said Ami.  
  
"You know..." whispered Minako to Ami, "...she does look great naked,   
don`t you think?"  
  
"That`s true, but I don`t think we should tell her that!" replied   
Ami, giggling uncontrollably.  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
Thunderstorms are nothing to be afraid of, unless you live in the   
tenth sphere where they can lay waste to entire countries. This is   
why the fortress of the ruling family of Changraloor was built so   
strong; over the past three millenia, it withstood assaults from   
natural and unnatural forces sufficient to wipe out Japan in a   
single night.  
  
In the heart of the black fortress, inside one of the many secret   
rooms, a seductively wicked figure completed the last operation in   
her ritual to create a new demonic life. Starting from shapeless   
biomass and a few hairs from a template, she created the being to   
her own taste. A demon who would be her husband. As soon as it had   
been large enough, she had begun subconscious education so that he   
would have an adult intelligence and behavior right out of his   
magical womb.  
  
Lady Daemonfang was a natural when it came to magic. Creating a   
complete demon in little more than three weeks as she did was   
nothing short of an exploit. An unholy birth was about to take   
place.  
  
Cracking and opening, the womb released the most beautiful demon   
ever born by the tenth sphere`s standards. His leathery wings were   
smooth and not slimy, his feet were well proportionned like a   
human`s, his armored second skin`s color complemented his primary   
skin color to perfection. As he stepped into the light, his face   
showed its delicate beauty; his jaw was not disproportionately large   
like all other male demons, neither were his small fangs that did   
not hinder his evil smile. His bright eyes flared malevolent wits.  
  
His face was identical to Mamoru`s.  
  
"Come to me, my husband to be..." said Daemonfang. "Come to me, my   
AKUMA KAMEN!"  
  
  
The End  



	13. Future Perfect

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE  
  
EPISODE 13: FUTURE PERFECT  
  
  
There are receptions, and then there are the receptions organized by   
Queen Serenity. Both were as far from each other as night and day,   
mainly because her parties and soirees were unmistakably THE social   
events of the entire silver millenium, and whenever there was one   
you could be sure that everyone who was anyone would go. These   
lavish receptions were also those who would inspire many immortal   
fairy tales in human lore long after the moon kingdom`s destruction   
and drift into the shroud of forgotten history.  
  
Of course, not everyone enjoyed these gatherings. One such woman was   
bored out of her mind, unmoved by the music, untouched by the   
beautiful clothes and just not hungry enough to eat the mouth   
watering foods. Still in her early twenties, Laurella was the   
youngest of the special women who had been chosen years before to   
be trained to become defenders of the silver millenium, the sailor   
scouts. The other scouts had, over the years, learned to enjoy these   
parties and mingle among the moon kingdom royalty, ambassadors and   
many more guests and VIPs. Laurella, however, just found this to be   
utterly pointless, though she came anyway as the presence of Sailor   
Jendra was required.   
  
So she sat in a corner, all by herself. It didn`t matter how many   
times her teacher Kitechnum Jendra explained her that grace and   
elegance were just as important for a scout as fighting skills, she   
hated every minute of it. The only reason she went was so that she`d   
get an occasion to get close to Kitechnum in a more relaxed   
situation; Laurella had a big crush on her mentor and did not miss   
any chance she could get to spend time with him. Unfortunately, he   
still hadn`t returned from Saturn Station alpha yet and this party   
seemed to move along to a crawl without him.  
  
"Why is a charming young lady like yourself doing sitting here all   
alone?" asked the ambassador Kunzite to Laurella. Wearing his white   
and purple silk uniform, he was undountebly one of the main   
attractions at this reception. He had just been sent to the moon   
kingdom on behalf of Queen Beryl who was still totally unknown in   
this part of space. Charming and charismatic, he could have easily   
seduced any woman in the room although for some reason he didn`t   
even try. Some rumors had started to go around that he might indeed   
have no eyes for women...  
  
"I`ve never been the partying type. I`d rather take the princess   
skating or train some more. Celeste has been on my case lately about   
that, maybe that would finally get her off my back." she answered.  
  
"You wouldn`t happen to know where I could meet the ambassador of   
Atlantis, would you? I`ve been trying to see her all evening and I`m   
starting to get the feeling she`s avoiding me altogether." wondered   
Kunzite.  
  
"You just missed her again, I`m afraid. She ran off with the prince   
of Earth in the courtyard only a minute ago. There`s definitely   
something weird about her, but I guess it`s just cultural   
differences. We don`t know much about what is going on in Atlantis   
since they began having problems with earthquakes and shut   
themselves up ten years ago."  
  
"Thank you, have a nice evening, Sailor Jendra." gracefully said   
Kunzite with a polite bow. He left her to mingle some more with   
the royalty.  
  
Tired of sitting down, she stood up and walked around. She absent-  
mindedly looked at the Technum guardians discussing lifeform   
detection outside the solar system`s outer rim with the terran   
diplomats, vaguely stared at her fellow scouts as they danced with   
ambassadors from their respective planets and barely gazed at the   
huge buffet table where many involved discussions were taking place.   
She could only think of her mentor Kitechnum.  
  
Laurella could only think of her lover, she missed his tender words   
and sweet kisses.  
  
Making her way through the crowd came Celeste, Sailor Mars, all   
dressed in red of course. She was looking for Laurella and   
discreetly handed her a paper note. Laurella`s name was written   
on it in Kitechnum`s handwriting. She smiled.  
  
"Thanks, Mars." she whispered.  
  
"Don`t mention it, kid." said Celeste.  
  
"Don`t call me `kid`, I`m twenty-two, you know. Just because you hit   
thirty last month doesn`t make an elder like the queen." protested   
Laurella.  
  
"My, aren`t you touchy today." said Celeste, leaving Laurella by   
herself again.  
  
She opened the note and read the message.  
  
Dear Laurella,  
I`ve been waiting all day for tonight`s party just so I could   
finally see you. As you read this note, I`m in the royal library   
where we won`t be disturbed.  
  
Love, K.J.  
  
At last! Kitechnum had been away on business for quite some time   
now, but he was back and he was all hers. She made up some excuse   
and slipped out of the party. Sailor Jendra never even knew that   
all her friends were discreetly watch her leave.  
  
"I`ll bet she`s on her way to meet with Kitechnum right now."   
whispered Michiru to Minako.  
  
"This is so cute! They`re convinced their relationship is secret   
even though we all know about it." said Minako.  
  
"Noratech Neptune told me that the guardians know about them too;   
they decided to keep their mouths shut until Kitechnum feels   
comfortable enough to let it out in the open by himself, just   
like we did." added Michiru.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella anxiously walked down the corridor to the library, the   
music echoing in the distance and growing fainter with each step   
she took. She opened the large wooden door and peeked inside; there   
he was, sitting on the corner of a table and reading a book   
relating the long story of the moon kingdom`s ruling dynasty. Tall   
and muscular, he was dressed in the same emerald green guardian   
uniform Laurella had always known him to wear. She sneaked in and   
closed the door as silently as she could.  
  
Kitechnum took notice of his student when he heard the door closing.   
"I`ve been waiting for you." he said with a smile, putting the book   
down on the table and walking towards Laurella.  
  
"So have I." she replied. From that moment, neither was able to take   
their eyes away from each other`s. They embraced warmly and kissed   
with the fire that had grown stronger for every day they spent apart.   
Eventually, the couple let go of their lip lock, smiling from a   
happiness that can be described by those touched by love.  
  
"You left in a hurry, last week. When I woke up, you were already   
gone." whispered Laurella.  
  
"I know, I`m sorry to leave you alone in a bed so big, but The Prime   
had called upon all guardians and we had quite a lot to do. I`m   
lucky I had time to come back at all this evening." said Kitechnum.  
  
"I`m happy you could come back tonight. This reception was so boring,   
the only highlight of the whole evening was the part when I got your   
message." explained Laurella.  
  
"I didn`t send you a message... YOU sent me one!" argued Kitechnum,   
pulling a piece of paper from his back pocket.  
  
"Wait a minute, how could I send you one if I didn`t know when you`d   
be back?" wondered Laurella.  
  
"Something`s wrong here." said Kitechnum, his face stiffening in   
concern.  
  
A third voice joined this discussion, coming from the shadows out of   
which emerged Celeste in her Sailor Mars uniform rather than her   
ballroom gown. "I brought you here with notes I forged myself." she   
said. "I heard rumors about you two and had to find out if they were   
true. It saddens me to discover they are."  
  
"You KNEW about us? That`s impossible!" protested Laurella.  
  
"Everybody`s talking in your back, Laurella. To be honest, I`ve   
always tought you as the worst recruit of our group. You`ve crossed   
the line, this time, by pursuing this relationship with your teacher   
which you corrupted insidiously!" snarled Celeste, her anger burning   
in her eyes.  
  
"She`s a great student, Celeste, she learned to use her powers even   
faster than you!" defended Kitechnum. "You, Celeste, are the   
dangerous one, with your excessive zeal and obsessive behavior!"  
  
"You went too far, Celeste. Technara is hearing about this, you can   
count on it!" added Laurella.  
  
"I don`t think so." said Sailor Mars, pulling a strange crystal wand   
from her compacted reality pocket; all sailor scouts have one of   
those to keep their scepters, swords and other weapons in.   
"Ambassador Kunzite got it on my demand, I`ll have to thank him   
later."  
  
The crystal wand glowed brightly and proceeded to violently extract   
vast amounts of Technum energy from both the guardian and his   
students. "I aligned it especially for Jendra`s Technum, I promise   
you that I`ll make a better use of it than you ever did." commented   
Mars who absorbed the raw power.  
  
"Don`t do... this... going to... destroy... thousands..." mumbled   
Kitechnum, pleading for mercy.  
  
Wracking pain surged through their bodies as the Technum flux failed   
to replenish them and compensate for the brutal extraction. Laurella   
wanted desperately to help her lover, to no avail. She was just as   
helpless as he was; thus she saw the mighty Kitechnum Jendra fall   
down and die before she collapsed herself. The resulting Technum   
imbalance had an immediate effect on the overall power distrubution   
of the solar system, with terrible results.  
  
Planet Jendra exploded with a bright flash unlike anything ever   
witnessed before or since.  
  
Throughout the solar system, it seemed as though all life stopped for   
an instant as everyone stared to the sky and watched astounded as the   
unthinkable unfolded before their eyes. Sailor Jendra heard in her   
mind the inhuman sound of thousands of people screaming for an   
instant, then dying down forever. Her connection to planet Jendra   
was very strong, condemning her to share its fate; Laurella`s heart   
missed a beat, then another a second later, then it stopped   
altogether while her spirit slowly faded into darkness. Piercing   
through the shadows, she could hear voices around her, the panicked   
words of Technuma Saturn trying to revive her, Sailor Saturn`s tears   
of pain, but they seemed to be so far away now. Tearing pain wracked   
through her chest as Technuma jolted her dead heart with raw Technum   
power. Darkness ultimately swallowed the voices in its formless void   
along with the pain. A bright golden light came for her, warm,   
peaceful, serene. Laurella knew for certain she was dead- Kitechnum   
was already there, extending his hand to her. She could tell he was   
inviting her to join him into the great beyond.  
  
So ended the story of a love destroyed by savage betrayal.  
  
* * *  
  
"Concentrate as the light extends and lashes out, it`s the most   
difficult part of the whole routine. Watch for the color changes to   
get a feeling for the right timing." explained Shingo to Laurella.  
  
It had been little more than a month since his amazing discovery:   
Tsukino Shingo was really the reincarnated soul of the deceased   
Technum guardian Kitechnum Jendra. His reawakened powers were still   
pretty weak compared to those he once wielded, but they grew   
stronger along with those with those of Laurella Hammerson, the   
reborn spirit of Sailor Jendra. Remembering his previous existence   
through his dreams he was now able to instruct Laurella to reclaim   
those abilities she had lost during her reincarnation. One of those   
was her most powerful attack wich she was on the verge of learning   
anew.  
  
"JENDRA..."  
  
A reddish orange glow engulfed her hands; she aimed carefully at an   
empty soda can laid on the ground several meters away.  
  
"...SPECTRUM..."  
  
A yellowish green surge of power extended slowly from the reddish   
halo, changing color from green to blue to purple as it advanced,   
gaining speed at an incredible rate.  
  
"...WHIPLASH!!!"  
  
Turning from indigo to invisible ultraviolet, the unseen attack   
struck the can dead on. It was blown away, thrashed beyond   
recognition.  
  
"Cool!" said Laurella, amazed at what she just did.  
  
"Very good." commented Shingo.  
  
Sweeping up the temple grounds, Rei watched the two of them from a   
distance and could almost picture what they looked like in their   
previous life. Of course, Shingo being fourteen, he still had most   
of his growth spurt to go through. That explained why he was   
slightly shorter than the sixteen years old Laurella who had grown   
to her full heigth already. Usagi was still bugging her brother   
about being too short, but that wouldn`t last as he was growing   
quite fast.  
  
Laurella reverted from her scout uniform into her regular clothes   
while Shingo picked up carefully the smoldering remains of the   
destroyed metal can. Rei went to meet them, inquiring to Laurella`s   
latest progress.  
  
"Thanks for letting us use your place for my training." said   
Laurella.  
  
"No problem, Yuuichiro`s only too happy to keep grandpa busy while   
you practice. It makes him feel good to know that he`s helping us in   
our fight against evil. It`s too bad that he`s going away, now that   
his music carreer is starting to pick up, I`ll miss him very much...   
still, I`ll always be there to keep granpa busy as long as you need   
a private spot to train." said Rei.  
  
"Are you going to be okay? I know you two had become pretty close   
ever since that witch Vortika cursed you and he helped you beat the   
hex." asked Shingo.  
  
"Don`t worry about me, I`ll be fine. Our breakup is going to be   
pretty smooth, as separations go anyway. But enough about me,   
Laurella, have you recovered all your lost powers?" said Rei.  
  
"It seems so. I finally managed to master the spectrum whiplash and   
it feels great to be so strong!" commented Laurella.  
  
"You haven`t even reached your peak yet. Before your death on the   
moon, you could hit up to four different targets in a single blast!"   
mentionned Shingo.  
  
"Speaking of our deaths, I saw them again in my dreams last night.   
I was the one dream that has been haunting me all my life where   
Celeste betrays and kills us, but... now that I know about my past,   
it didn`t scare me anymore. And neither do those emotions I`ve felt   
since our first chance encounter." said Laurella, giving Shingo a   
sweet smile.  
  
"That`s right." added Shingo who smiled as well. "What Laurella is   
saying, essentially, is that we have become a couple again after a   
thousand years of separation." he explained to Rei.  
  
"Oh boy, Usagi is going to blow a gasket for sure when she finds   
out." said Rei.  
  
"We`re still not sure which one of us should tell her." said   
Laurella.  
  
"I`ll write you into my will if you let it be me!!!" begged Rei.  
  
* * *  
  
Like two dolphins slicing through the warm shallow waters of the   
Florida Keys, Ami and Michiru enjoyed the underwater silence of the   
local public pool. Upon resurfacing for air, the ambient noises   
were once again audible to the duo of expert swimmers.  
  
"That feels great. Water truly is my element." commented Michiru as   
she wringed her hair to remove some of the water it was gorged with.  
  
"Chibi-Usa would have loved to come, she`s a natural when it comes   
to swimming. It`s almost uncanny." said Ami.  
  
"Maybe she was a sea dweller in one of her previous existences, like   
we were." said Michiru.  
  
"Perhaps." said Ami, climbing out of the pool and reaching for her   
towel.  
  
"Haruka spoke with Minako yesterday." mentionned Michiru, following   
her out. "She told me about the two of you getting together."  
  
"Oh, that..." said Ami, blushing.  
  
"I never would have guessed you had inclinations for women."   
observed Michiru, drying herself from the chlorine laced water.  
  
"It surprised everyone, including me."  
  
They left the pool and went for the changing room. Several people   
stared at them from a distance, hoping that the two girls wouldn`t   
notice that they did so. The atmosphere was quite uneasy around   
them.  
  
"Admitting it to those I know was tough. Telling it to Minako the   
first time was even harder." said Ami who found it somewhat easier   
to speak with a friend that could understand her so well.  
  
"It can never be harder than admitting it to yourself." added   
Michiru.  
  
"I`ve already lost many of my so-called friends... how bad was it   
for you? Did a lot of your friends turn their backs on you?" asked   
Ami, opening her locker and pulling out her dry clothes.  
  
"I lost all of them. After I openly admitted my homosexuality, only   
Haruka remained... until I met you and your scout friends. Keep   
them close to your heart, Ami, for a handful of true friends is   
worth more than a thousand hypocrites who will judge and condemn   
those who differ from them." said Michiru as she removed her   
drenched bathing suit.  
  
Ami noticed a couple of girls she knew from school; they were   
whispering and pointing at her.  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean." she replied.  
  
* * *  
  
Walking with Luna on her shoulder to the Cherry Hill temple, she   
might have appeared to those who passed by that she was talking to   
herself. In fact, she was speaking to her cat; her cat, as it stood,   
was quite a remarkable feline for she had the astonishing ability   
to talk back.  
  
"It`s really weird that my brother turned out to be this   
reincarnated half-god being, you know?" said Usagi.  
  
"How many times must I tell you? He`s not a half-god, a demiurge or   
an alien of any kind! He`s a Technum guardian, a race of beings   
quite similar to humans; the only difference is that he wields a   
power that can instill life to barren worlds." explained Luna.  
  
"Creating life out of a dry hunk of rock is nothing short of   
godlike." argued Usagi.  
  
"He`s not THAT poweruful. Not yet, anyhow. How knows, he could quite   
possibly outlive even the two of us. In the meantime, he`s still   
your brother, a blooming young man discovering a new world of   
feelings and experiences." said Luna.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Usagi, sensing Luna was holding something   
back.  
  
"Well, he just might be having feelings for your friend Laurella.   
They HAVE been spending a lot of time together lately." explained   
Luna.  
  
"That`s ridiculous! Shingo and Laurella, a couple? He`s just   
training her to regain an attack she hasn`t been able to remember   
yet!" protested Usagi.  
  
"He`s a young man, Usagi, and all young men fall in love sooner   
or later. After all, Laurella is an attractive, smart lady." said   
Luna.  
  
"I`d rather have it happen later." said Usagi, out of arguments.  
  
"I have some business here." said Luna as the turned a corner a few   
streets away from the temple. "Could you let me down?"  
  
Usagi gently put her cat down and went on her way. A few minutes   
later, she made it to her destination. Standing outside the front   
gate, Laurella was quietly smoking a cigarette. She tried to make   
smoke rings, but the gentle wind made her task next to impossible.   
She waved at Usagi when she saw her.  
  
"Hiya, Laurella, taking a break from my pesky brother`s training?"   
asked Usagi.  
  
"Yes. I wanted to smoke one while I had the chance; Rei insisted   
politely but firmly that I do it off the temple grounds." explained   
Laurella.  
  
"Threatened to rip your head off again, has she?"   
  
"In no uncertain words." answered Laurella, flicking off her   
finished cigarette. "Hopefully, I`ll be able to shake off this bad   
habit by the time you`re crowned queen of Crystal Tokyo."  
  
"Say, what`s with your dad buying off the agency?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"So you`ve been watching the business reports on television, have   
you? I`m beginning to rub off on you, I see." said Laurella with a   
giggle. "Since the owners of the agency have... shall we say...   
`disappeared`... the upper management has collapsed, the stock   
dropped to rock bottom values. Dad understood the potential of the   
agency and bought it out completely, lot, stock and barrel. It`s a   
good company, offers great corporate protection. It was just a   
matter of removing the rotten core, the former corrupt owners;   
we saw to that personally."  
  
"To think that your dad owns our former enemy... that just feels   
so strange." commented Usagi.  
  
"Speaking of strange feelings, Usagi, you better come in with me.   
Your brother and I must speak with you." said Laurella, flicking   
off her cigarette.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella and the scouts weren`t the only ones whose dreams revealed   
fragmented memories from the moon kingdom. A certain black cat named   
Luna had those dreams, too; scattered bits of her younger days at   
Queen Serenity`s service came back to her mind each night. That was   
the very reason why she wasn`t going directly to the temple, but to   
a small restaurant`s terrasse. There she hopped on a table where a   
seemingly young girl was enjoying a nice cup of coffee.  
  
"Hello, Luna. I was expecting you." said Setsuna, the mysterious   
guardian of time also known as Sailor Pluto.  
  
"I had another one of my dreams last night, one that brought back   
to my memory some strange details of the events that led to the   
destruction of planet Jendra." said Luna.  
  
"Yes, certainly one of the greater tragedies of history. Not even   
the black plague epidemic of 13th century Europe could compare to   
this one." observed Setsuna.  
  
"So am I right? Is today the day?" asked Luna.  
  
"It certainly is. The portents have spoken, the elements fallen in   
place. On this day she must go full circle and complete the loop,   
close it once and for all." said Setsuna.  
  
"I hope she`s ready, she will be facing a difficult moment soon."   
commented the black cat.  
  
"She has to, or all is lost."  
  
* * *  
  
Gazing into the deepest, blackest pits of the atlantic ocean, one   
would have a better chance of finding signs of life than in the   
empty eyes of the frozen Usagi. Stunned into a state of   
shock-induced paralysis, she stared vaguely into the air with   
her mouth wide open.  
  
"Did you hear what I said, Usagi?" asked Laurella, afraid the news   
might have blown a couple of Usagi`s microchips; after all, she   
didn`t have that many to begin with.  
  
"I`ve seen that expression before, she heard you all right." said   
Shingo.  
  
"Usagi, snap out of it!" screamed Laurella, shacking some sense   
back into the blonde zombie.  
  
"Huuuuh... you and... my brother? Why?" she uttered, half her mind   
still blown away from shock.  
  
"That`s right. My emotions for Kitechnum.. your brother Shingo...   
haven`t changed from my reincarnation. I missed his presence my   
whole life and now I found him again." explained Laurella.  
  
"It`s the same for me. I`ve know Laurella through my dreams for my   
entire life, but never told anyone because I figured it was just   
that: a dream. Then my powers surfaced, and I met Laurella- I knew   
right there I couldn`t dismiss my nocturnal visions as I always did.   
I was sure we were meant to be together the way we were denied a   
millenium ago." continued Shingo.  
  
"But... you`re much too young, Shingo! You`re only fourteen years   
old and Laurella`s already sixteen! This can`t work, the age   
difference is too great." argued Usagi.  
  
"Remind me again how old YOU were when you fell for Mamoru."   
replied Shingo. Usagi knew the answer well: fourteen years old   
as well.  
  
"That`s totally different, we`re destined to be together!" protested   
Usagi.  
  
"So are we." added Laurella, taking Shingo`s hand in hers. "The way   
I understand it, I`ll live to be over a thousand years old; your   
brother... well, only The Prime knows for sure. By then, those two   
years of age difference won`t mean anything."  
  
Finding no fitting counterargument, Usagi stormed away, frustration   
flaring over her face. Clearly, she disapproved of his brother`s   
newfound love. From a distance, Rei and Minako observed and   
commented on the scene.  
  
"She was the first to accept my love for Ami; you`d think she would   
have accepted her brother`s. She was refused love by fate and given   
a second chance... why doesn`t she understand this is the same?"   
wondered Minako.  
  
"Her brother is becoming a man, it`s a big change in her life, it   
was just a matter of time before it happened. Change is always   
difficult to accept." replied Rei.  
  
* * *  
  
Walking down the street with the temple behind her, Usagi raged and   
mumbled to herself things that were better left unheard. Venting her   
frustration as best she could, she took no notice of Setsuna turning   
the corner andslammed right into her.  
  
"Oh, I`m sorry, Setsuna, I had so much on my mind that I didn`t even   
look where I was going!" she appologized.  
  
Setsuna did not reply; she simply invited Usagi to follow her by   
taking her hand and taking her to an unknown destination. Usagi   
didn`t mind, being used to her friend`s rather strange behavior.   
She was also curious to see where Setsuna was taking her. They   
walked like this for over half an hour until they arrived at a   
large appartment building where Setsuna resided. She led Usagi   
straight to her place and opened the door, to her friend`s   
amazement.  
  
Usagi had never seen her Pluto`s home, and it was truly a sight to   
behold. A nightmare to any self-respecting interior decorator, it   
hurt everybody`s eyes the same way a bright light would after   
remaining a long time in the dark. Eclectic didn`t even begin to   
describe the collage of mismatched furniture pieces and numerous   
knick-knacks strewn around in no particular pattern. These objects   
appeared to come from varied periods of history, though how Setsuna   
came in their possession was far from obvious. Altough none of these   
things could ever complement each other in any positive way, their   
owner somehow made it work in one unified result pleasing to the eye.  
  
In short, the apparment reflected Setsuna to perfection.  
  
"Please sit down, Usagi." she finally said, breaking her long   
silence and pointing to a comfortable looking leather sofa. Usagi   
did so while Setsuna sat down on a wooden chest that had seemed to   
be waiting there for a few hundred years.  
  
"Did this couch belong to Sigmund Freud?" asked the curious blonde   
girl.  
  
"What if it did? Would that change anything?" replied Setsuna.  
  
Usagi thought it better not to elaborate on that one. "Why have you   
invited me here, Setsuna?" she asked instead.  
  
"Tell me, Usagi, what do you think about if I mention the date of   
august 6th 1945?" asked Setsuna.  
  
"Hiroshima destroyed by the first atom bomb attack, of course. It`s   
something we`re constantly reminded of in class."  
  
"Anything else?"  
  
"No, nothing, really." said Usagi.  
  
"Where you aware that on that very day was born the man who would be   
Rei`s father in her second incarnation?" asked Setsuna.  
  
"No, I didn`t. What does it have to do with me?"  
  
"A very old cycle of events is about to complete itself. To bring   
it to completion as you must, you will have to understand that some   
events cannot be changed, regardless of their tragic endings; hidden   
in their shadows, however, are the seeds of love and life which go   
unnoticed to bloom and grow." explained Setsuna.  
  
"I don`t get it." said Usagi.  
  
"You will." concluded Setsuna who took a small transformation pen   
from her jacket pocket wich she used immediately. "PLUTO STAR POWER...   
MAKEUP!"  
  
In a single glorious moment of flashing light, Setsuna left her   
place for Sailor Pluto, the guardian of time. "Stand up, young Usagi,   
your mission awaits." she ordered.  
  
"My... mission?"  
  
"A life is in danger... someone who cannot be allowed to die is   
risking death at the hands of a murderer whose true motives are   
hidden in deceit. You must save that person no matter what,   
regardless of other events unfolding around you wich you might be   
tempted to interfere in." said Sailor Pluto. She summoned a huge   
swirling tunnel of pink light right in front of Usagi: the passage   
of time that Pluto was sworn to protect. "Remember that you can   
always trust Luna. Leave, now, to a time where you are greatly   
needed."  
  
Usagi walked in the tunnel at that point... or did the tunnel move   
forward and swallow her? As far as her memories of that day went,   
she would never be able to tell as that moment seemed somewhat   
surreal.  
  
* * *  
  
The whole world`s spinning, spinning out of control, thought Usagi,   
please make it stop someone, anyone.  
  
Please make it stop, she begged. And it did.  
  
When her head came back out of this spin and her senses returned,   
she noticed that night had fallen already and she was lying on a   
beautiful patch of silver grass. Silver grass?  
  
She stood up and looked around. No dount about it, she was inside   
the courtyard of a place she saw many times in her dreams: the moon   
kingdom palace. High in the sky shone the earth, waxing to its full   
glow wich it would reach in just about two or three nights. "The   
moon kingdom? Am I really here?" she wondered.  
  
She also remembered that Setsuna had mentionned saving a life...   
who did she mean?  
  
"Queen Serenity, here you are at last! I had a feeling you might be   
here stargazing. I must discuss with you some final details regarding   
the ambassadorial accomodations." said a warm maternal voice all too   
familiar to Usagi.  
  
Turning around, she saw behind her was a small black cat whose   
forehead was graced by a shining golden crescent moon. Around her   
neck, a glithering diamond collar gave the venusian cat a   
distinguished look that was perfectly suited for her royal duties.   
Unmistakably, this was Luna, a thousand years younger. Usagi didn`t   
answer the cat`s request, staring at her absent-mindedly.  
  
"Majesty, we must adress this matter soon since our guests will   
arrive in less than... wait a minute, you`re not the queen, are   
you?" said Luna, noticing that this girl, though she looked very   
much like Serenity, was certainly hundreds of years younger.  
  
"You`re right, Luna, I`m not." replied Usagi, crouching down to meet   
her at her level.  
  
"This ressemblance is incredible, you look so much like Queen   
Serenity... of course, you must be PRINCESS USAGI! Did Sailor Pluto   
send you back in time?" asked the astonished cat.  
  
"Yes, she also said I should trust you implicitly."  
  
"That`s very flattering, but why did she send you? My, you look   
seventeen or eighteen, so you came from roughly... ten years from   
the future!" said Luna.  
  
Usagi almost blurted out that it was more like a thousand years, but   
she realized it would have meant a lot of needless explaining and   
revealing of unnecessary information about Beryl destroying   
everything a few years down the road. "Yeah, that`s about right."   
she finally said, relieved that this Luna hadn`t learned yet to read   
her face to tell if she lied.  
  
"Sailor Pluto told me I was meant to save a life, but I`m not too   
sure who she was talking about." said Usagi, picking up the cat in   
her arms to caress her. "She was really cryptic about the whole   
thing."  
  
"She`s always been that way as long as I`ve known her. You`ll need   
a disguise, princess, unless you feel like explaining your presence   
to the entire palace, and I know just what to do about that." said   
Luna, jumping out of her arms and leading her inside the castle.   
"Follow me."  
  
* * *  
  
It just so happened that Luna was great at disguising people, a   
hidden talent that allowed her, some years later, to create the   
luna pen with the help of the royal artificer. It took a while for   
Usagi to do it, but Luna`s directions helped her change her   
trademark ponytails into a different hairstyle. Now, they were   
instead two elaborate braids that rolled around themselved and   
covered her ears.  
  
"I look like Princess Leia!" complained Usagi, remembering an old   
american movie she once saw with Rei.  
  
"That`s as good a name as any, so that`s who you will be. Since this   
guest quarter is one of those reserved for ambassadors and other   
such guests, it will be yours for the duration of your stay...   
princess Leia." replied Luna.  
  
"It doesn`t matter how I comb my hair, you know, no fake name in the   
world will convince anyone as long as they see my face! I`m still a   
dead ringer for the queen!"  
  
"There is something we can do about that." said Luna, pointing to a   
superb cat mask lying on the dresser, close to Usagi`s left hand. It   
was a beautiful work of art made from pure terran mahogany,   
carefully hand carved and painted. "It`s an earth made mask, noble   
women from Atlantis are known to wear them from their thirteenth   
birthday until they reveal their face to the man they choose to   
marry."  
  
"So a princess is expected to wear one?"  
  
"Exactly. As Princess Leia, you are not to show your face to anyone   
but the man to whom you wish to declare your undying love."   
explained Luna. "We had little diplomatic contact with Atlantis   
these past years, so you won`t be meeting another Atlantean   
ambassador. You`ll face little risk of being exposed."  
  
Usagi tried it on. The mask covered most of her face, leaving only   
her eyes and mouth to be seen. With her hair done and mask on, she   
was looking at a total stranger in the mirror.   
  
"That`s amazing, Luna, I don`t look a thing like myself... have you   
ever done this for somebody else, I wonder?"  
  
"Well, you are old enough to know, I suppose... when your mother   
fell in love with your father Technazul Terra, I`m the one who snuck   
her out of the palace so they could meet in secret. I did this until   
their official engagement, and nobody ever knew about it, either."   
said Luna with a big smile.  
  
"How many more secrets have you hidden between those pointy ears,   
little kitty?"  
  
"Maybe someday I`ll tell you, princess. Now go to sleep, tomorrow   
is going to be a hectic day... I`ll see you back in the morning and   
don`t forget to put on some clothes to blend in! The closet has a   
few selections that will help you move around more smoothly." said   
Luna who hopped off the dresser to leave.  
  
"Luna?"  
  
"Yes, princess?"  
  
"I`m glad you`re my friend, even if you`re a real pain at times."   
said Usagi with a warm smile.  
  
"So am I, even if you`re really stubborn at times." replied Luna,   
giggling.  
  
* * *  
  
As a new day was dawning on the moon kingdom, the inhabitants of the   
palace slowly began to prepare themselves for their various tasks. A   
few of them were already up and running. Among them, three women in   
their early thirties were in the middle of their regular exercise   
schedule, training hard to be the very best sailor scouts they could   
be. Haruka, Makoto and Celeste were up to their third lap around the   
palace courtyard so far. They paused for a moment to catch their   
breath, stretching their muscles not to cool down too much for their   
five remaining laps.  
  
"The ambassadors will be arriving today; you all know what that   
means, don`t you?" asked Haruka, Sailor Uranus.  
  
"Yeah, receptions nearly every night for a week!" answered with great   
anticipation Makoto, Sailor Jupiter.  
  
"You`re not focusing on our true role, to protect these guests."   
said Celeste, Sailor Mars.  
  
"You should lighten up a little, you know. Have some fun, loosen   
up." suggested Makoto.  
  
"Yes, at least try to have a good time once in a while. It won`t   
hurt your discipline and you`ll enjoy life a lot more." agreed   
Haruka.  
  
"Being a sailor scout is serious business- there`s no place for   
kidding around." replied Celeste, getting started on her next lap   
ahead of her two teammates.  
  
"She`s been getting worse this past year. I can hardly tolerate   
her anymore." said Haruka.  
  
"I know. She doesn`t even have the excuse of inheriting her   
obsessive behavior from her parents; I met them and they`re quite   
charming. Her sister Rei is delightful as well! I`m telling you,   
that Celeste seriously needs a boyfriend." said Makoto.  
  
"Or a girlfriend, maybe? Trying to deny your true nature will make   
you irritable, you know..." added Haruka. "I was a lot like her   
until I accepted myself."  
  
* * *  
  
"Good morning, princess." said Luna to Usagi who finished getting   
dressed.  
  
"Good morning to you too, my dear friend." said Usagi who slipped   
on the cat mask and tied its thin leather straps.  
  
"I`m happy to notice how easily you got up so early. Usually, I   
need wild horses to drag you out of bed; apparently, you`ll grow   
up to be quite the early bird unlike your younger self."  
  
"Well... yes, you could say that." agreed Usagi who preferred not   
to clue in Luna that she still required those wild horses each   
morning. "You were right about these dresses, they do make me look   
like someone else." she said, twirling around to show off the   
delicate blue silk gown she chose. The transformation was nothing   
short of spectacular.  
  
"After breakfast, I`ll present you to the sailor scouts. You know   
them already I`m sure, but they have never met Princess Leia, have   
they? It`s customary for them to meet all ambassadors upon their   
arrival in the moon kingdom; since you arrived during the night,   
however, you might see them during your meal.. it`s not customary   
for introductions to happen this way, mind you, but this is a   
rather extraordinary occurance. Tell me, princess, is your appetite   
still the same in the future?" wondered the cat.  
  
"I`m famous for never turning down food." said Usagi.  
  
"I thought so. If you`ll excuse me, the queen expects me to discuss   
some last minute details." said the cat, leaving the room in two   
quick bounds.  
  
"Where do I go for this breakfast you just told me about?" asked   
`Princess Leia`.  
  
"Go down the main corridor, take the first stairwell down and   
follow your nose!" instructed the black cat as she walked away.  
  
Usagi followed Luna`s instructions and came across many people and   
rooms she remembered from her dreams; it was identical to the very   
last detail, sights, sounds and smells. Along the way, she took her   
time to enjoy this time travel experience by seeing as much as she   
could, talking with everyone she met and gently dragging her fingers   
on the smooth surfaces of the many white marble statues and walls   
she came across. It took Usagi no less than half an hour to walk a   
distance she could have crossed in just under four minutes at most.  
  
The smell eventually led her to the dinning hall where tables were   
being set in preparations for the first meal of the day. Amazingly,   
it took Usagi a mission in the distant past to have her actually   
wake up in time for breakfast.  
  
She was greeted there by one of the cooks who felt gratified by   
Usagi`s presence. "Welcome, princess, Lady Luna told me of your   
arrival late last night; please sit down, we will serve you our   
most delicious foods in a few moments." she said.  
  
"Thank you..." akwardly answered Usagi who was not accustomed to   
received the royal treatment, even though she`d known for over   
almost two years of her being princess of the moon. Her uneasyness   
lifted quickly enough when she received a large plate of eggs,   
fruits and waffles bigger than any breakfast she ever had before;   
she asked if this plate was a serving for the entire table and was   
baffled to learn this was an individual serving and everyone would   
receive a plate of the same size. She barely had time to make a dent   
in it when the cook came back to her.  
  
"Excuse me to disturb you, milady, but three of our distinguished   
defenders, Sailor Mars, Jupiter and Uranus have just returned from   
their morning exercise; they were wondering if they might have the   
honor of sharing their meal at your table." she said very politely.  
  
"Of course, there are three empty chairs just waiting to be filled!   
Please send them over here!" Usagi said graciously. She couldn`t   
wait to meet her friends as they were a millenium earlier. It was   
strange to see Makoto and Haruka in their early thirties, maturity   
gracing their faces. They seemed different, yet were just the same   
as she remembered them from her own life in the future.  
  
The real shocker came from Sailor Mars... CELESTE!!!  
  
Usagi managed to contain her surprise somehow, and eased her tension   
during their conversation by making small talk and doing her best   
not to think about what Celeste would do to Sailor Jendra. The girls   
were visibly happy to meet with an atlantean ambassador, even Celeste   
who seemed downright friendly for all the evil she would one day   
commit. If anything, it helped Usagi decide her line of action: to   
protect Laurella from the wrath of Sailor Mars.  
  
"You won`t be the only representative of earth at tonight`s   
reception." observed Makoto during the conversation. "The king of   
earth himself will be attending!"  
  
"Is that so?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Of course, earth is so close that the king always comes. He`ll   
certainly want to meet you, the good king is the warmest, kindest   
soul you`ll ever meet." said Haruka.  
  
* * *  
  
Lying on her back over Queen Serenity`s lap, Luna purred in delight   
as the queen`s gentle fingers caressed her stomach and stroked her   
smooth black fur. The cat always enjoyed her talks with Serenity,   
especially the tender moments they shared afterwards. During this   
special moment between the queen and her adviser, young princess   
Usagi came in the royal chambers.  
  
"Good morning, my darling." said the queen with a sweet maternal   
smile.  
  
"Hello, mother." said the young princess.  
  
"This is a special day, you know. Our special guests will be   
attending a reception in their honor this evening." explained   
the queen.  
  
"Must I really be there? I can tell this is going to be so boring!"   
protested little Usagi.  
  
"Of course you must, princess, it`s part of the royal duties." said   
Luna, twisting her head to see the princess without having to leave   
the queen`s gentle strokes.  
  
"Besides, ambassador Jedite`s successor will be here for the first   
time, he will surely want to meet you." mentionned the queen. "And   
there is also an ambassador from Atlantis for the first time in   
over ten years, Luna tells me. We will have a lot of questions to   
ask her about the great city in the sea, won`t we, Luna?"  
  
"She may not talk a lot, she`s very shy." blurted out Luna. She   
didn`t want the queen hanging around the future Usagi so not to risk   
revealing her true identity.  
  
* * *  
  
As it turned out for Usagi, breakfast in the dinning hall was the   
best way to meet the sailor scouts as they all came in to eat one by   
one, replacing her meal companions as they finished their plate and   
left the hall. She thus met all nine of them, talking and laughing   
about life in the peaceful moon kingdom. This was also a unique   
chance to meet Sailor Saturn whose ill-fated second incarnation   
came to a brutal end at the hands of Ronmar, the dread lord of   
darkness.  
  
During those conversations, Usagi was able to piece together that,   
indeed, there was some bad blood between Laurella and Celeste. No   
doubt this was the source of the conflict that eventually   
degenerated in Laurella`s savage murder.  
  
No way would Usagi let this happen.  
  
When breakfast was over, she left the dinning hall along with   
Laurella, asking the youngest of the scouts to give her a visit of   
the palace. It felt strange that, in this time and place, Laurella   
was older than Usagi, but it did not stop Usagi from becoming   
friends immediately with this inviting and open-hearted young woman.   
There was a question burning her lips, however, and she asked it   
the first chance she got.  
  
"Laurella, am I right to say that there is something between you   
and Celeste... something rotten?"  
  
Laurella blushed and looked very embarassed; how did this woman she   
had just met figure out so much in so little time?  
  
"Yeah, that`s right... she is on my case a lot regarding my work,   
she keeps lecturing me about dedication and personal sacrifice to   
improve my discipline. I don`t really mind, you know, `cause in a   
way she`s right. There`s no sailor scout who became so strong so   
fast other than Celeste... I admire her a lot, even if I never said   
anything." explained Laurella.  
  
"I see..." replied Usagi absent-mindedly. This admiration of   
Laurella`s would certainly complicate matters; how was she going to   
warn her of Celeste`s impending betrayal if Laurella saw Sailor Mars   
as a rolemodel? Nothing in her life had ever been easy, not since the   
day she`d met that little black cat with a crescent moon on her   
forehead, anyway.  
  
The sound of rolling thunder in the distance caught their attention;   
thunder on a clear day?  
  
"They`re here, princess, the Technum guardians have arrived!" said   
Laurella who jumped for joy, dragging Usagi into the main courtyard   
where the thundrous roar turned into the clearly identifiable scream   
of the starships Avatar and Pegasus`s landing thrusters. "I`ll   
introduce you to them, princess, I`m certain you`ll get to love their   
company as much as I do." added Laurella. Usagi had to bite her lip   
not to make a remark about Laurella`s love affair with Kitechnum   
Jendra.  
  
As the transfusion shriek died down with the engines` sudden stop,   
the doors to both of the huge ships opened to let out a group   
composed of quite possibly the most powerful beings who ever   
existed: the Technum guardians. Out of the two ships came Technumina   
Uranus, Ramatech Jupiter, Technulis Mercury, Litechnae Venus and   
Noratech Neptune, soon followed bt the crafts` pilots Technuma   
Saturn and Technara Mars.  
  
Sailor Jendra seemed rather disapointed not to see her teacher   
Kitechnum Jendra. Technuma took notice and explained her why he   
wasn`t there. "He had some business to take care of with Techniliyis   
Pluto and The Prime back on Saturn Station Alpha, he should arrive   
sometime during the evening. He asked me to tell you how sorry he   
was of this delay." he said with a level of empathy Usagi didn`t   
know he was capable of. This was, after all, the same Technuma that   
hadn`t seen his close friends die or his student get corrupted and   
murdered by the dread lord of darkness... yet.  
  
"Where are my manners?" said Laurella, suddenly remembering about   
her new friend. "This is our honored guest, Princess Leia of   
Atlantis. Leia, let me introduce the Technum guardians, the moon   
kingdom`s allies who trained every one of the sailor scouts!"  
  
Usagi bowed gracefully to the ageless being who politely bowed back   
in return. Even though the charm school she had attended two years   
before was nothing more than a dark kingdom setup to capture her   
silver crystal, she had nonetheless picked up a few useful tips on   
proper princess behavior.  
  
"We picked up a passenger on our way over." said Litechnae Venus   
as Prince Endymion stepped off the Avatar. "The king of Earth was   
unable to come due to some health problems, so he sent his son to   
represent him. Perhaps you`ve met before on some other occasion?"  
  
Usagi stopped breathing when she saw him gracefully walk down the   
ship`s boarding steps. He looked absolutely identical to her   
precious Chiba Mamoru who was waiting for her back in the future.   
"No, we`ve never met." she lied.  
  
"She looks familiar..." thought the prince to himself as he looked   
at this woman who was introduced to him as Princess Leia.  
  
* * *  
  
"So tell me, ambassador Kunzite, why was ambassador Jedite unable   
to attend to my reception tonight?" asked the queen to Kunzite as   
she poured him a glass of moonglow dew, one of the finest drinks   
known in the solar system.  
  
"Our queen Beryl required his special talents back home and   
appointed me in his functions instead. Rest assured that I will do   
my very best to equal his diplomatic skills. It`s a great honor to   
be in your presence, I must say." he answered in his smooth voice.  
  
"We have an unexpected guest with us today, ambassador." said the   
queen. "The great city of Atlantis has sent Princess Leia to   
represent them at our gathering... Luna, have you seen the princess   
today? I`d like her to meet ambassador Kunzite, not to mention that   
I still haven`t met her myself."  
  
"She`s with the scouts right now, they`re showing her around the   
castle and the city. She will be there for the reception tonight,   
however." replied the black cat.  
  
"I have a feeling that it will be a very special evening, majesty."   
observed Kunzite with a grin.  
  
* * *  
  
The reception began with a recital from the highly acclaimed singer   
Myrassanya Naru, whose name meant `voice of sirens` in ancient   
lunarian. So mesmerizing was her performance that not a word was   
heard for an entire hour, not as much as a hushed whisper could be   
heard. With the end of this remarkable recital, the orchestra kept   
playing a variety of musical pieces while the guests mingled and   
ate from the very large buffet. Amidst the large crowd, Usagi was   
quite busy playing an elaborate game of cat and mouse; keeping an   
eye on both Laurella and Celeste, she also had to avoid Kunzite,   
Prince Endymion and Queen Serenity. Even with luna`s help, she   
could hardly keep up this charade.  
  
"Luna, you must try to keep the queen distracted as long as you   
can!" she asked to the cat.  
  
"That won`t be a problem, she just left with Princess Usagi and   
Prince Endymion for a stroll in the gardens; the Earth is full,   
tonight, after all, it is quite a sight! That just leaves Kunzite   
you told me that you wish to avoid... would you care telling me why   
you want to do that?" asked Luna.  
  
"No, I don`t care to explain." she snapped. She couldn`t see Celeste   
anymore, so she left the cat behind to look for Sailor Mars.  
  
"I`ll bet she has a crush on him. Won`t she be disappointed to find   
out he`s gay." thought Luna. She looked around and saw Kunzite   
having a conversation with Laurella in a corner of the reception   
hall. She looked bored out of her mind, but this chat was bringing   
out a thin smile on her lips somehow. "He could have been a real   
ladies` man." thought Luna.  
  
Usagi was busy searching through the crowd, so much so that she   
never noticed that man sneaking up behind her and putting a hand to   
her shoulder. She let out a loud shriek in surprise.  
  
"I`m sorry if I startled you, Princess Leia. I noticed that you were   
alone and was wondering if you would do me the honor of granting me   
the next dance." said prince Endymion.  
  
"I`d love to, but I`m busy right now and... and... wait, aren`t   
you with the queen right now? Outside?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Apparently not, otherwise I wouldn`t be right here asking you for   
a dance." he replied.  
  
"But Luna just saw you leave with the queen and her daughter!"  
  
"I did no such thing." said the prince. "I`ve been talking with   
ambassador Kunzite for over half an hour."  
  
Usagi`s face turned pale (the part that her face that her mask   
allowed to see, anyhow) when she realized what was going on- she   
had to save someone all right, and it wasn`t Laurella!  
  
* * *  
  
"Mommy, the prince is giving me the creeps!" whispered little   
Usagi to her mother`s ear.  
  
"He`s had a long trip from Earth, honey, I`m sure he`s just a   
little tired." whispered the queen to her daughter.  
  
"But mommy... I`m really, really afraid of him!" she cried aloud.  
  
"What`s the matter, majesty, can`t you control your daughter?"   
snarled the prince in contempt. The terrified Usagi cried even more.  
  
"I`ve had just about enough of your insulting attitude, Endymion. I   
don`t care if your father is the king of Earth, you`ll appologize   
this instant!" said the queen with authority.  
  
"I`ll do something all right, but I don`t think you`ll like it..."   
said the prince. At this moment, his muscle mass started to increase,   
tearing through his clothes; his skin covered itself with blood red   
fur and his twisted fingers grew razor sharp claws. His teeth also   
turned into vicious fangs.  
  
Queen Serenity couldn`t imagine how, but a kitling -a monstrous   
shapeshifter- had managed to enter the palace and pass himself off   
as the prince of Earth. She moved in front of her daughter whom she   
was ready to protect with her life.  
  
"It`s not you I`m after, your highness... won`t you come play with   
me, Usagi? Won`t you play with mister kitling?" growled the monster.   
Rushing the queen, he easily grabbed and shoved aside the panic-  
stricken woman who hit her head hard on the ground as she fell.   
Little Usagi tried to run, but the changeling leaped with all its   
might, landing right in front of her.  
  
"Now it`s just you and me, sugar..." growled the beast to the   
little girl.  
  
"Not quite, monster, you haven`t dealt with me yet!" said a voice   
behind him before attacking. Prince Endymion punched the kitling   
in the neck as hard as he could and grabbed him by the waist to   
throw him down; a savage fistfight ensued between the two.  
  
The older Usagi who had come along with Endymion rushed to   
Serenity`s help. Her wound was only a bump and she wound be all   
right in time.  
  
"Lady, please help my mommy and the prince to fight the bad   
monster!" begged the frightened Usagi; at the same instant,   
Endymion was thrown clear across a distance of over twenty feet   
by the raging kitling.  
  
"No man alive can best a kitling!!!" yelled the beast as he   
turned his attention back to the queen and her daugther.  
  
"Then maybe you need to fight a woman for a change!" replied the   
disguised Usagi, answering the evil beast`s challenge. The kitling   
lost no more time in chitchat, charging her in a screaming fury.   
Without losing her calm, Usagi caught him by the arm and used his   
own strenght to throw him away with a superb judo move. Before he   
could get up, she gave him two solid kicks to the stomach and took   
the chance to transform into Sailor moon.  
  
"MOON CRYSTAL POWER MAKEUP!!!"  
  
As she changed into Sailor Moon, Usagi`s hair fell down into her   
traditionnal ponytails and her mask faded away from her face; there   
was no mistaking her identity. Serenity was starting to wake up and   
her mind was blown away.  
  
"Usagi?" she mumbled, trying to shake off the headache she was   
experiencing from hitting the ground head-on a few moments earlier.  
  
Sailor Moon pulled her septer and pointed it to the monster. It   
would be over soon.  
  
"MOON SCEPTER HALATION!"  
  
A flashing burst of light shot from the scepter, squarely hitting   
the beast in the chest; the pure white light proceeded to consume   
the kitling, leaving behind no more than a scorched skeleton. The   
danger was gone.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Endymion to Sailor Moon as he slowly walked   
back from the spot where he brutally landed.  
  
"She is my daughter." answered Serenity. "As she will be when she   
blooms into a young woman." she explained as she hugged her young   
daughter who had stopped crying now that her mother was safe again.  
  
As though he had been blind all of his life, Endymion saw through   
Sailor Moon`s magical disguise and recognized Usagi for who she   
was... and hopelessly fell in love. "You`re the most beautiful   
woman I`ve ever met!" he said.  
  
"If you`re ready to wait for me to grow up, I too will fall in   
love with you someday." whispered Usagi.  
  
"I`d wait for you a thousand years if I had to." he said.  
  
"I know." said Usagi who then kissed the prince. When she released   
her lips from the prince`s, she started to cry. "Setsuna was right;   
in the shadows of great tragedies are born the seeds of even greater   
events..." said Usagi.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked the queen.  
  
"I thought I could save my friend, preserve the love that shouldn`t   
have died... but that was meant to happen tonight, and even my   
knowledge of the past couldn`t prevent it. There was nothing I   
could do to stop it!" said Sailor moon, crying in her hands as   
she fell on her knees.  
  
Before Endymion could help her back up, something monstrously   
horrible happened. The night sky light up as a heavenly body   
exploded. Planet Jendra had just been destroyed; it died away as a   
result of Celeste`s irreparable act.  
  
"I`m so sorry, Laurella..." cried Usagi, begging forgiveness for   
something no one would ever even blame her of.  
  
Her mission completed, Usagi faded away into the endless ripples of   
time. Serenity was helped back to the palace by Endymion who would   
never forget what had just happened, along with the young princess   
who would one day share the feelings he had for her.  
  
A few hours later, a sinister shadow loomed over the kitling bones   
lying in the royal gardens.  
  
The evil man pulled a small crystal from underneath his cape and   
spoke into it to his dark commander.  
  
"Queen Beryl, this is Kunzite. I am sorry to say that my plan to   
destabilize the moon kingdom failed; the queen was somehow able to   
destroy the kitling warrior sent to us by the tenth sphere tribes.   
I suspect that she has more agents working for her that we   
originaly assumed... it would be more prudent to continue gathering   
energy for Queen Metalia until we can release her upon this pitiful   
civilization along with the army of darkness we are currently   
assembling. I will return tomorrow to continue supervizing our   
operations from home. Kunzite out. "  
  
He left.  
  
* * *  
  
When Usagi finally opened her eyes, it was to see the bizarre   
knick-knack collection of Sailor Pluto all around her; she was   
back to the present where Setsuna had brought her back. According   
to the clock on the wall, only an hour had ellapsed since she left   
for the moon kingdom.  
  
"Congratulations, Usagi, you succeeded in saving your life; had you   
died in Kunzite`s assassination attempt, the moon kingdom would have   
fallen to Beryl`s assault in the ensuing confusion. Not even your   
mother could have prevented the invasion if events had unfolded in   
this fashion." explained Setsuna.  
  
"So I was never meant to rescue Laurella and Kitechnum, was I?"  
  
"No, you weren`t. This tragedy was no more than a smoke screen for   
another event wich would later shape the entire fate of humanity...   
your love with Prince Endymion is so much more than you could ever   
imagine!"  
  
"Then I guess my battle is over for today. I better transform and go   
see Laurella, we have to talk." said Sailor Moon. As her uniform   
faded away, it suddenly occured that she was still wearing the silk   
gown and cat mask Luna had given her.  
  
"WHAA! I forgot my clothes on the moon a thousand years ago, mom`s   
going to skin me alive for that!" she yelled.  
  
"Don`t worry, I was aware of this already." replied the guardian of   
time. Opening the ancient chest she was sitting on earlier, she   
pulled out the very clothes that Usagi thought she`d never see   
again. "You left in a hurry last millenium, so Luna asked me to   
hold on to these until you returned from your mission in the past.   
She didn`t expect it would take so long to happen, but I had all   
the time in the world, quite litteraly."  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella sat alone on her bed wich looked like Noah`s arc from the   
unimaginable amount of stuffed animals she kept there. Her room was   
filled with these toys, each cuter than the next. "Why can`t Usagi   
understand what me and her brother have?" she asked to the teddy   
bear she hugged tight. She talked to him whenever she felt bad,   
and that had happened a lot in the last couple of years.  
  
The door opened slowly and Muriel Hammerson came in. "Laurella   
darling, one of your friends is here to see you; she says she   
wants to appologize for something she said earlier."  
  
"Okay mom, show her in."   
  
Usagi entered the room and Laurella`s mother left them. She sat   
on the floor among the hordes of soft furry animals and spoke first,   
in a hushed tone. "I see you`ve been crying, Laurella."  
  
"And so have you, Usagi."  
  
"Things happened. Some that made me believe my friends were turning   
on me, and others that opened my eyes and made me see that they were   
only trying to be happy after a lot of bad things were put to rest.   
I guess my point is that I`ve been selfish about your relationship   
and I`m sorry. I lost you once before on the moon and I don`t want   
to lose you again." apologized Usagi.  
  
"I forgive you, and I appologize as well. I dropped a bomb on you   
this morning, after all. We`ve helped each other out of a very dark   
place and it brought us closer than we might imagine." said   
Laurella, joining Usagi on the thick carpeting and hugging her.  
  
"Why is change so damn hard to accept?" asked Usagi.  
  
"I don`t know, but I don`t think our lives are going to get easier   
any time soon." concluded   
Laurella.  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
Neural pathways configuration is tricky business.  
  
All it takes is a single misplaced neuron connection to turn a   
sweet, caring girl into a raving psycopath whenever she hears Mozart   
or tastes strawberries.  
  
This is why Technuma Saturn was being so careful in giving his   
creation the appropriate mental patterns wich couldn`t, he hoped,   
interract destructively with each other. Installed in a cramped   
bubble-shaped workstation trapped between two large pieces of   
bioengineering equipment, he operated at the same time three   
keyboards and four viewscreens wich he could access directly   
through a special laser pointer mounter on a headband that also   
included a microphone for voice commands. Right now, you would   
almost expect him to mindlessly repeat "I am Lacutas of Borg, you   
will be assimilated" over and over.  
  
He was almost finished after weeks of feverish work, though he was   
hopelessly blocked for the final keywords; he had no idea what they   
should be. AWAITING INSTRUCTONS flashed on the third screen in large   
type, but he couldn`t do a thing about it. This decision he had   
postponed since he first came up with "project second coming" in the   
hope that the solution would present itself eventually. This   
definitely did not happen.  
  
The door to his cramped bubble swooshed open, unlocked from the   
outside, letting in more light than his eyes could tolerate after   
nine hours in near-total darkness. Blinded for a few moments, he   
quickly recognized Technulis Mercury.  
  
"So THIS is where you`ve been spending all your time!" she said.   
"This project really got you burning again, hasn`t it?"  
  
"Still wearing human clothes, Technulis? I thought you`d have   
switched back to the uniform by now." observed Technuma, removing   
the constrictive multifunction headband.  
  
"I love the uniform, don`t get me wrong, but a little change is   
nice once in a while."  
  
"What`s bringing you to my high-tech cocoon?" asked Technuma.  
  
"Just dropped by to tell you that Hotaru`s commemorative statue is   
ready, I finished it last night. I found a nice spot for it in the   
memorial room." explained Technulis.  
  
"Since you`re here, maybe you can help me finish my project. All I   
need now is the final information, the keyword that will shape the   
ego and determine the outcome of the entire neural matrix."   
explained Technuma.  
  
"Can`t decide on her name, can you?"  
  
"Haven`t got a clue. Any ideas?"  
  
"As a matter of fact, I do!" said Technulis. She crawled inside   
Technuma`s bubble workstation and sat on his lap, huddling herself   
to the guardian of Saturn in order to use what little space was   
available. "Well, this is nice!" she commented, placing her arms   
around his neck and cuddling up comfortably.  
  
"You`re enjoying this, aren`t you?!" he asked with a smile.  
  
"Yes, and so are you, I can tell!" she replied, giggling. Technulis   
took a look at the screens and noticed something interesting in the   
data: the bioengineering tank in use was marked with the symbol of   
Saturn. "Isn`t this the same pod the Prime used to create you?"  
  
"That`s the one." he replied. "The Prime felt it would be   
appropriate, considering my goal. So, what`s the name you had   
in mind?"  
  
Technulis Mercury reached for the first keyboard and typed in,   
letter by letter, the defining character of the new human being   
about to be born:  
  
ROBIN REDWING  
  
"It`s beautiful, Technulis. More than that, it`s perfect!" said   
Technuma.  
  
"Thank you. I always find it inspiring to be creating, wether it`s   
art or new life... especially when you`re involved, my love."   
replied Technulis, kissing Technuma to keep him from talking any   
further.  
  
Floating inside the bioengineering pod, Robin`s eyes opened slowly.   
Through the thick greenish fluid, she could see the two guardians   
in their tender embrace. This vision of love would be the first   
memory to be etched in her mind, caressing her soul as her new   
life began.  
  
And so she smiled.  
  
  
The End  



	14. Falling From Grace

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Those of you who`ve read any amount of Sailor Moon fanfiction know   
that every author has its own style, each located somewhere   
in-between the two ends of the spectrum wich ranges from unaltered   
japanese names and wordings to entirely americanized.  
  
One of the most important aspects of this variety is the designation   
of the heroes themselves... are they the Sailor SENSHI (the original   
japanese designation- it means warrior) or are they Sailor SCOUTS   
(american "translation") ?  
  
From the start, I`ve chosen american names and designations- up to   
the point where I made all of my stories into a huge continuing   
universe where I chose to use japanese names. So far I`ve kept on   
calling the girls scouts, but I`d like to change that. To this   
effect, several options present themselves to me:  
  
a) Go back over everything I`ve ever written and change each   
occurance of SCOUT with SENSHI (unnecessarily long and tedious)  
  
b) Arbitrarily start calling them Sailor Senshi without a valid   
reason and no explanation (like THAT would make any sense...)  
  
c) Have some fun with the idea and come up with something that`s   
actually ORIGINAL  
  
  
As we all know, the opposite equivalent of options a) and b)   
were used by the american translators at DIC when SAILOR MOON   
came to the US... with a generous amount of censorship and   
mutilation of the original story. I`d hate to be associated in   
any way with these people, so I decided to go with option c)  
  
Stay tuned, people, something big is coming your way.  
  
* * *  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
Sleeping uneasily, Tsukino Usagi tried to get as much rest as she   
could knowing well that she needed to be ready for her first day of   
college; after years of oversleeping through grade school and high   
school, she was determined to wake up on time for a change. To make   
sure she would, Luna was sleeping on her bed next to her- she was   
certain that Usagi would need help to be dragged out of bed once   
again.  
  
Through nervous dreams of arriving to school late and missing the   
most important exam of the year (a recurring dream so many students   
have...) she saw a flash of light and heard a voice calling her   
name in the distance; she was late again! She woke up in a   
panic... only to find out it was still three o`clock and the sun   
was a few hours away from rising. Where did this light come from?  
  
On her dresser, she saw a faint glow of light, the same light that   
had woken her up; it lasted only an instant, then died down. Only   
one thing could make that sort of light by itself.  
  
"Why did my locket glow like this? The silver crystal hasn`t acted   
up in weeks..." she thought.  
  
She looked at the locket for a few minutes, but nothing more   
happened. Strange, she thought.  
  
"What`s going on?" asked the sleepy Luna whom Usagi had just   
disturbed.  
  
"Nothing, Luna, just go back to sleep."  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 14  
  
DESCENT INTO DARKNESS, PART 1: FALLING FROM GRACE  
  
  
The dawning sun hit the windows and sneaked its way through the   
pulled shades and right into Usagi`s eyes. As she woke up, her old   
reflexes kicked in and she panicked:  
  
"HAAA, I`m late, I`m late! I`m so..." she screamed. She then looked   
at her alarm clock and noticed it wasn`t set to ring for another   
ten minutes.  
  
"... NOT late!" she finished.  
  
"Force of habit, Usagi?" asked Luna.  
  
"Looks like it."  
  
For the first time in recorded history, Usagi actually had time to   
dress up slowly and chew her breakfast instead of just swallowing   
it whole. To make this day more extraordinary, she didn`t even   
argue with her brother with whom she was getting along much better   
since the past few weeks.  
  
"It just occured to me that you two haven`t fought in over a month."   
said their mother Ikuko. "Could this have anything to do with   
Usagi`s friend, Laurella? She is a very cute girl, after all..." she   
added, giving her son a big "I know about you two" smile. He turned   
red as a tomato. At this point, he would have given everything for a   
new topic of conversation.  
  
"Better get ready for class, Shingo, miss Haruna can get pretty ugly   
when you`re late. I speak from first hand experience, you know."   
said Usagi, cleverly steering away the attention from her brother.  
  
"Hey, you`re right. Better make sure I have all my books ready and   
my uniform on straight!" he replied, dashing out of the kitchen. "I   
owe you one." he whispered to his sister as he ran by.   
  
"You should get ready as well, young lady, you don`t want to be late   
on your first day." said Ikuko.  
  
"I`m ready, mom, don`t worry. I got up early so I could get dressed   
the way I want; it`s a nice change from the high school uniform!"   
replied Usagi.  
  
"Oh, my little Usagi is going to college..." said her mother, tears   
forming in her eyes.  
  
"Please don`t cry, mom..." pleaded Usagi to no avail as her mother   
hugged her and cried.  
  
Luna, eating from her bowl in a corner of the dinning room, had to   
bite her lips to keep from laughing out loud.  
  
* * *  
  
As a traveller goes thorugh the parallel universes, few places will   
scar his psyche in the way the tenth sphere can.  
  
A dark land, sheltered by even darker starless skies, made of huge   
tracts of barren, scorched land with a few inhabitable spots.   
Survival is possible in these rare pockets where the land is a   
little less hostile, though no one would live there by choice. As   
if it were not enough, violent storms permanently raged across these   
ravaged hills and mountains, even if no clouds were to be seen. The   
powerful weather system was just chaotic enough to create insanely   
strong lightning bolts out of a clear sky. It would take someone who   
is both terribly powerful and not quite mentally stable to desire   
living atop one of these thunder-ravaged peaks.  
  
That someone was the descendant of a great demonic dynasty, Lady   
Daemonfang, whose ancestors had forged a fabulous empire from this   
blighted land and created its stronghold atop the highest mountain   
they controlled. On that spot they built the Changraloor fortress,   
which Daemonfang lovingly called home.  
  
Much like an iceberg -which this world had none of anyway- the   
fortress`s visible exterior was nothing more than a small portion   
of the entire structure. Many passages dug deep within the ground`s   
entrails, going so deep that a few of the deepest chambers were   
actually kept warm by the underground volcanic activity, a technique   
known to the tenth sphere`s architects for many millenia. Within   
these lowest chambers, the ancestral crypt of Daemonfang`s family   
rested far from view and held many secrets wich the entire   
multiverse would rather forget altogether.  
  
One of these secrets, Lady Daemonfang wanted for herself to use in a   
war that had cost her too much already. She would now seek payback   
for the terrible losses the sailor scouts inflicted to her army. Due   
to the time lag between the first and tenth sphere, over two years   
had passed on her side while only a few months had ellapsed on   
earth, giving the demon lord plenty of time to rebuild her forces.   
Now was the time to heal her wounded pride.  
  
Her lantern`s light faintly lit up the gloomy passage she walked   
down; after much waiting, she was about to get what she wanted. At   
the end of the deepest, darkest passage of the mountain she made it   
to a pair of huge steel doors; from the amount of dust collected on   
the floor, it had been many years since anyone had walked through   
this doorway.  
  
"In the name of the mighty Mephistofeles, I command you to open!!!"   
she screamed. Slowly and with much noise, the huge doors obeyed,   
opening to let in the wicked queen. She walked in with all the   
grace and elegance a twisted demon was capable of, followed by the   
duo of bronze clad knightmares who had enough courage to follow   
their mistress into the family crypt.  
  
So great was the treasure garded in this room that it warranted its   
own room with very strong doors and even stronger guardians: as   
Daemonfang entered the room, twelve mold covered statue surrounding   
an ancient metal chest began to stir and groan. Their eyes glowing   
bright green, the gargoyles moved towards the terrified knightmares   
and the utterly calm demon. She rose her clawed hand and commanded   
them to stand down.  
  
"I am Daemonfang, daughter of Vennomklaw, son of Zurenthril! The   
rightful owner of the great weapon of Lord Mephistofeles orders you   
to stand down!" she said in a commanding voice. Without a word, the   
gargoyles obeyed.  
  
"You two will pick up this chest and bring it to the throne room   
where I will be waiting. Make it snappy, I have plans for this   
weapon." she ordered to the knightmares, then turned back and left.   
All alone with the growling gargoyles, the soldiers picked up the   
amazingly heavy chest hurried back to the throne room, unwilling to   
spend a single instant more with the terrifying stonelike creatures.  
  
* * *  
  
When the time came for Usagi to choose a college, there were many to   
select from. Unfortunately for her, she wasn`t so fortunate as the   
rest of her friends who knew many of those in their class; knowing   
no one who applied to her college, she was alone in a huge new world.   
She would have to make new friends unless she wanted to go through   
her studies in a lonely manner, but she`d always been good at that.  
  
Having gotten out of bed on time, she had plenty of time to take the   
bus downtown and get to her college with time to spare. The front   
lawn of the building had been turned into a beautiful park many   
years before; over time, it had grown into a warm, restful place,   
so she sat down on a bench and enjoyed the cool morning breeze,   
watching as dozens of students walk by, both freshmen and seniors.  
  
At this point, a young girl arrived on campus, attracting everyone`s   
attention, especially Usagi. Tall and slender, she looked like she   
was the daughter of a japanese woman and an american man, judging   
from her superbly chiseled features, silky skin, emerald green eyes   
and dark black hair. The silver mane brushing her forehead gave her   
a distinctive elegance that complemented superbly her magnetic aura.   
One look at her and you just had to get to know this striking   
beauty.  
  
"Wow, she`s really amazing!" thought Usagi. "She`s incredible and...   
she`s coming my way!"  
  
Usagi was right about that; the girl came straight for her bench and   
sat next to her. She gazed at Usagi and looked as though she was   
straining her memory. "Excuse me, you seem familiar, have we met   
before?" she finally asked.  
  
"No, I`d remember someone gorgeous as you." replied Usagi, slightly   
embarassed.  
  
"Oh, you`re too kind... You`re quite the looker yourself, I`ll bet   
you have to beat off the hordes of boys with a stick."  
  
"That`s not necessary. I`ve already made my choice..." said Usagi,   
showing her beautiful engagement ring. "He`s the nicest guy I`ve   
ever known, great looking, too!"  
  
"Does he treat you right?" wondered the girl.  
  
"Like a princess!" said Usagi, giggling. "What about you, how`s your   
boyfriend?"  
  
"I don`t have one yet, but I hope on finding one soon. Love is very   
important for me, but I haven`t been around long enough for that   
yet. I arrived in Tokyo just three days ago, and it`s been a mad   
race for my dad and me, finding an appartment and getting me   
registered in time for class. He`s had to go back home with my   
mother for some medical emergency, so I`ll be living by myself for   
a while "  
  
"So, your father is some kind of doctor?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Yeah, he is." said the girl, pulling a class schedule from one of   
her books. "I have to go, I have math in fifteen minutes"  
  
Usagi peeked at the schedule and noticed it virtualy matched her   
own, save a class or two.  
  
"It seems we`ll be seeing a lot of each other... hum, my name is   
Tsukino Usagi, what`s yours?"  
  
"I`m Robin Redwing, pleased to meet you."  
  
* * *  
  
Carved out of the mountain`s sheer basalt foundation, the Changraloor   
fortress throne greatly increased the commanding aura of whoever sat   
on it. This is exactly why Lady Daemonfang liked to be seen there as   
much as possible, wether she was declaring war on another nation,   
pronouncing a sentence of death against a traitor or simply getting   
her claws sharpened by one of her slaves, as she was doing right   
now. Her knightmares were taking a long time to come back, but she   
was in no hurry. She learned years ago that patience was a virtue   
no leader could do without.  
  
"They`re taking too much time, it`s an insult to their mistress."   
claimed Akuma Kamen, her new husband who stood by her side. She was   
really happy on how her black magic experiment had turned out; he   
was powerful as a darkbeast, cunning like a hellfox.  
  
Most of all, he had the face of Sailor Moon`s boyfriend, the   
greatest way she ever imagined of mocking her enemy.  
  
"It`s impatience that got my darling Ronmar, your predecessor,   
killed in the first place. You should learn from his mistake in   
order not to repeat it. Besides, my trinket is well worth waiting   
for, you`ll see." she said. "Somebody get me a cup of blood wine!"  
  
"An entire army of knightmares failed to destroy the warrior girls   
of earth the first time; asuming that the little maggot Ithzhanh   
will even manage to get support from the northern kitling tribes,   
it strikes me that our troops will be marching to their doom, no   
matter what precious trinket you bring along!" argued Akuma Kamen,   
flaring his fangs.  
  
"It all depends HOW it is used, as you will see. Tell me, have you   
ever heard of the chains of Mephistofeles?" asked Daemonfang, picking   
up the bloodwine cup her servant handed her.  
  
"No, I can`t say I have."  
  
"Your subliminal teaching is not quite as perfect as I had hoped, it   
seems... no matter, I`ll tell you myself. Nine generations ago, my   
ancestor forged a great weapon, a weapon so powerful that it allowed   
him to conquer a huge part of the storm lands in a single night! The   
might of the Changraloor rulers has been resting on possession of   
these mighty chains ever since. The remarkable power of Mephistofeles   
has been somewhat diluted down along the centuries, unfortunately,   
and they can only be used one time every decade. This matters little,   
however, as they hold enough power so tip the scales of virtually any   
power conflict by allowing its user to destroy the leader of any   
opposing legion, regardless of his or her strenght." she explained.  
  
"Is that how Vennomklaw killed his enemy Grimlorr the immortal?"   
wondered the male demon.  
  
"Exactly."  
  
The two courageous knightmare entered the throne room at last,   
carrying the unnaturaly heavy chest containing the legendary   
chains. They were quite relieved to drop their cargo after hauling   
it from the deepest pits of the fortress.  
  
"Thank you, my loyal guards. You are indeed very strong for carrying   
such a burden all the way here. Would you please open it for me,   
before you... leave?" she asked sweetly, repressing an evil laugh   
at the thought of what would happen next.  
  
* * *  
  
Leaving her geography class, Rei caught up with Ami in her college`s   
cafeteria; even though they went to the same institution, they did   
not as much as share a single class. They had indeed little time   
during the day to meet up and chat.  
  
"Hi, Ami, what brilliant piece of work are you doing now?" she asked.  
  
"I`m programming my laptop to follow the nexus cycles so I can   
predict the moments where Daemonfang might try to open another   
portal. From my latest observation, it could be anytime in the next   
two or three days. After that, she`ll have to wait another week;   
from that point on, the nexus goes into a recessive formation that   
will keep it shut for at least sixty or seventy years. Keeping track   
of the time lag effect in the nexus, it`ll be at least five hundred   
years on her side before another portal can be opened!" she   
answered.  
  
"That`s more info than I was expecting..." commented Rei.  
  
"How simple do you want this explanation?"  
  
"So that Usagi can understand it when I call her later this   
afternoon."  
  
"Oh dear god..." blurted out Ami. "In plain english it means that   
she must strike before mid-september unless she wants to wait a   
very long time to exact her revenge on us." she then said.  
  
"Thank you. I`ll warn the others first chance I get. Now rest your   
brain, for crying out loud, you have neurology class in ten   
minutes!" said Rei who then left the cafeteria after picking up a   
cup of coffee.  
  
Ami looked at the monitor of her blue laptop and stared at the   
energy waves rippling from the waning nexus who would soon close   
itself shut for good. She closed the small computer, thinking she`d   
be glad when this demonic mess could be put behind and forgotten. As   
she picked up the laptop, she took a moment to stare at the   
alchemical symbol of Mercury adorning its ocean blue casing. The   
golden paint had, over the years, been worn down to a dull   
yellowish grey.   
  
So much time had passed already, so many evil beings had been   
destroyed and still they kept coming strong, like there was an evil   
creature faucet somewhere and whoever was in charge had forgot to   
turn it off...  
  
* * *  
  
"How much time to open this portal yet? Mother is getting impatient,   
and when she gets impatient, my whip handle gets itchy!!!" said   
Ithzhanh to the royal mage in charge of all magical operations. He   
was lying about his mother getting impatient, of course, because   
she rarely did. As royal overseer of Changraloor, however, Ithzhanh   
was authorized to kill a whole lot of people if they didn`t work   
fast enough to his liking. Few people ever worked THAT fast and a   
whole lot of people often DID get killed this way.  
  
"Tell my lordship that the portal will be ready in time, as will all   
the other doorways and the nexean cube. Your constantly asking   
questions, overseer, WILL result in delays unless it stops right   
now." answered Traxis. As grand magus, he knew damn well that his   
life was one the few that was considered unexpendable to   
Daemonfang`s eyes... as long as he kept satisfying her requests,   
which he had so far. "Now leave me alone, and stop stinking up my   
ritual area with your stench of carrion!" he added.  
  
"You better not fail us, wizard, otherwise I`ll be having your   
rotting corpse for lunch next month." grumbled the foul little   
demon as he pathetically stomped away.  
  
A pair of blood curdling screams welcomed him as he entered the   
throne room. He smiled wickedly as he remembered what day this was.   
His vile mind rejoyced as he laid eyes on the seemingly alive chains   
that were shooting out of the open chest, mercilessly grabbing and   
strangling the two knightmares who hadn`t expected the chains of   
Mephistofeles to be so vicious. They gurgled in a vain effort to   
scream again.  
  
"Has it been ten years already since the last time you unleashed the   
chains, mother? My, my, how time passes." commented the disgusting   
little creature.  
  
"I thought you`d enjoy seeing the chains in action again. You can   
have their bodies if you wish." said Daemonfang, who dared not even   
imagine her son as he would feast on the fallen guards.  
  
"Was this really necessary? If those chains need to feed before you   
can use them, couldn`t we just toss them a prisoner or two? We   
certainly could spare that scum rather than two of our best   
soldiers!" asked her husband.  
  
"The chains are picky when it comes to their prey. They will refuse   
to attack anything that will not put up a decent struggle; anemic   
prisoners can barely stand up. That`s not a bad thing, having   
dungeons that can break the strongest of wills, but it`s useless   
to feed my precious chains." commented the she-demon.  
  
"The portals will be ready on time. I saw to that, mother." said   
Ithzhanh with pride.  
  
"Good. I still have a few more details to take care of and I will   
need all of the remaining hours ahead of me to do it, too. Come to   
my chambers, Akuma, I will require your talents for this." said   
Daemonfang, taking his hand and leading him to her private chambers.  
  
Ithzhanh looked at his mother and how she lovingly gazed at this   
handsome demon she had created; the loathsome son of Daemonfang   
despised Akuma Kamen as he was a direct threat to his plans for   
claiming the throne of Changraloor for himself in the near future.   
He hated him even more for possessing every charm that nature had   
so unjustly denied him, for making him the twisted eater of corpses   
he was, instead of the handsome creature Akuma had been created as.  
  
The carrion eating beast had to do something about it; it was in   
his blood to be both vindictive and underhanded.  
  
* * *  
  
With their monday classes lasting only until noon, Usagi and Robin   
decided to go spend their afternoon together; Usagi felt like she   
had known Robin her whole life and had really liked her from the   
first moment they talked earlier that day. Although Robin had been   
in town only a few days, she seemed already comfortable in her new   
hometown.  
  
"So, Usagi, did you give any thought to that idea I had? We have   
plenty of time ahead, and we don`t really need more than an hour   
or two to do it..." asked Robin.  
  
"Well, I must confess I thought about doing it a few times   
before... my friend Minako has been on my case to try it for weeks   
now; it worked out great for her when she did it, but I don`t think   
everyone would agree with that kind of radical change." said Usagi.  
  
"You can`t spend your whole life worrying about other people, live   
for yourself! Trust me, you`ll wonder why you haven`t done it   
sooner. I need to do it myself, so we can do it together; it`ll   
be fun, you can count on it!" urged Robin.  
  
"Oh, what the hell, I`ll try it at least once in my life!" said   
Usagi. "Come with me, Robin, and I know a great place to do it!"  
  
* * *  
  
An hour and a half later, the girls came out of a hair salon with   
their hair done in style. Robin had the lower part of her head   
buzzed clean with the rest of her head shortened to match in a very   
modern look; Usagi`s hair wasn`t quite that short, but her ponytails   
were definitely gone for good. This new style had matured her of a   
few years and she looked that much sexier for it.  
  
"Oh my head feels so much lighter... I feel liberated, I can feel   
the wind through my hair!" she said, twisting her head side to side   
with no fear of having her hair hitting something as she had done   
so often over the years.  
  
"I told you so, didn`t I?" said Robin who rubbed the small of her   
neck wich could now breathe freely.  
  
"My friends are going to be so surprised... my hair is almost as   
short as Ami`s!"  
  
At this moment, Usagi`s watch beeped loudly; her disguised   
communicator was not something she cared to explain to her new   
friend. She placed her hand behind her head in a gesture of   
embarassment, hiding the watch at the same time.  
  
"That`s just my pager." she blurted. "If you`ll excuse me, I have a   
phone call to make."  
  
"I really must be going myself, so I`ll see you tomorrow. Bye,   
Usagi!"  
  
"Bye!" said Usagi, relieved of not having to lie more than she had   
to. She quickly found a lonely spot and answered her call. "Yeah,   
I`m here, what`s the matter?"  
  
"Minako, here, I`m calling to say that Ami`s been registering   
intense portal forming activity throughout the city. She thinks   
that the nexus closing down is distorting her detector readings,   
but it`s definitely going to open in the park close to your   
college. Say, Usagi, have you done something different with your   
hair?" asked Minako who had trouble seeing through her com-watch`s   
tiny screen.  
  
"Yeah, a friend from class talked me into it. Combined with your   
persistent encouragements to do it, I finally had my ponytails cut   
off."  
  
"Good for you! Ami says you should go straight for the portal site,   
we`ll catch up with you ASAP. Minako out."  
  
This couldn`t be good, she thought. She took advantage of her unseen   
location to transform into the powerful (and short-haired) champion   
of justice Sailor Moon and ran to the nearby park. She was hoping   
the others would join her fast enough...  
  
* * *  
  
"Look, mom, it`s Sailor Moon, and her hair is short, now!" said a   
little girl who saw her run by. Unknownly, Usagi had just started   
what would be hippest trend among young girls... hundreds of them   
would trim their flowing long hair the same way she had.  
  
Located inside the locket she wore on her chest, the silver crystal   
began to pulse nervously.  
  
"I must be close." thought Usagi. And she was right, too- since the   
reality collapse provoked by Metalia, the crystal had retained a   
small part of the pulse energy charge placed in it by the future   
version of Sailor Mercury that she had run into. Sailor Moon was   
still able to locate portals before they formed, but she had to be   
right on top of them. As for closing them, that was simply out of   
the question. She could only wait until it opened and hold off   
whatever poured out.  
  
And open it did; in the middle of the small glade where Sailor   
Moon had run into, a flat swirling circle of silver light appeared   
and partly stabilized into a dimensionnal portal. Her heart began   
to pump furiously and her stomach twisted in fear, for she   
intuitively knew who was coming through...  
  
The warrior demon stepped through with majesty, keeping her wings   
folded over her shoulders to give the illusion of a cape. Lady   
Daemonfang was back in Tokyo and ready for action.  
  
"I was hoping you`d be there when I arrived." commented Daemonfang   
as she saw Sailor Moon. "You even came alone, too. That`s very good,   
since this is between you and me, child."  
  
"I`ve beaten you before, demon, and I`ll beat you again. I don`t fear   
you." she courageously boasted to the seven feet tall creature.  
  
"So much strenght and courage in such a small body, this is so   
amazing..." said Daemonfang, taking a step towards Sailor Moon who   
used every ounce of her strenght not to take one step back. "... but   
this time, however, you don`t have Storm Seeker in your delicate   
little hands..." she added, taking another step and suddenly opening   
her wings to their full extent. Usagi noticed the dark steel chains   
wrapped around her right forearm.  
  
"What are the chains for?" she asked, fearing the answer.  
  
"I`ll show you if you behave." replied the demon, growling   
menacingly. She ran forward to attack and Sailor Moon jumped over   
her head in a nimble bound- the battle had begun.  
  
* * *  
  
"Quickly, everyone in!" said Mamoru to Rei, Ami and Minako as he   
opened his car door. "I have the feeling that Usagi`s in grave   
danger!"  
  
"That`s not just a feeling, it`s a fact! My computer shows the   
portal is already open and SOMETHING came through." said Ami, he   
attention focused on her computer screen.  
  
"I`ll bet my last yen that your something just happens to be   
Daemonfang!" said Minako as she squeezed in.  
  
Rei pushed Ami on the back seat and jumped in the red sportscar   
along with the two other girls. "No time to waste, we have to go-   
Ami, you give us directions, Mamoru, you drive!" ordered Rei.  
  
Mamoru wouldn`t usually let anyone push him around and give him   
orders, but his sweetheart was in danger, so he thought nothing of   
it. "Hang on, my bunny, we`re coming!" he whispered.  
  
* * *  
  
Running down a flight of stairs and out of the door from her   
gastronomic school, Makoto saw a speeding Velociraptor model   
motorcycle come to a grinding halt on a very short distance, sliding   
in a controlled half-turn that almost hit her. Through the driver`s   
helmet, she recognized Laurella`s eyes.  
  
"Hop on, Makoto, there`s an emergency and I`m going to where it`s   
at." she said, pointing to the spare helmet strapped on the back of   
the seat.  
  
Twenty seconds later, they were both speeding down the street.  
  
* * *  
  
"No, this isn`t possible..." said Ami to herself, punching wildly   
her keyboard with her one hundred and fifty words a minute typing   
skill; she couldn`t believe what she was seeing, yet the same   
result kept repeating itself over and over.  
  
"What`s wrong?" asked Minako.  
  
"The anomalous readings I got from the first portal... they`re not   
anomalous at all." she answered.  
  
"Wait a minute, does that mean...?" asked Rei, unwilling to believe   
what she tought Ami was saying.  
  
"Exactly, more portals all over Tokyo. Dozens of them. Maybe even   
hundreds." said Ami.  
  
"It`s not just revenge she wants..." said Rei.  
  
"It`s a full scale invasion!" completed Mamoru who accelerated his   
car even more- things were getting uglier by the minute and Usagi   
was caught right in the middle.  
  
* * *  
  
Holding their ground firmly and panting heavily, both the demon   
lord and Sailor Moon stared at each other, trying to gauge just   
how much damage they inflicted during their savage hand-to-hand   
fight. Both were covered with bruises, bleeding slightly from   
various body parts.   
  
"Getting tired... are you?" asked Daemonfang.  
  
"No way, I`m... just getting... started. You`re the one... who`s   
tired!" replied Sailor Moon.  
  
"In that case, you`ll have no trouble dealing with this..." said   
Daemonfang, unwinding the dark steel chains from around her arm and   
getting ready to use them; for some reason, there seemed to remain   
just as many links wound around the she-demon`s arm as there was   
before the fight started even tough she unwound five or six feet   
long of the chain already.  
  
"You got THAT right, monster! MOON TIARA MAGIC!" she screamed,   
throwing her golden tiara turned into a blazing disk of light.  
  
Swinging the chain, Daemonfang easily deflected the disk wich fell   
to the ground several dozen feet away.  
  
"How did you do that?!?" said the bewildered Sailor Moon.  
  
"It`s easy to do, actually. After all these are the CHAINS OF   
MEPHISTOFELES!" screamed the monster. As she mentionned their name,   
the chains soared towards Sailor Moon on their own, moving furiously   
through the air. Sailor Moon dodged the first chain, but more chains   
emerged from the those still wrapped around Daemonfang`s arm,   
charging madly for the young hero. For all of her skill, she could   
barely keep up jumping left and right to avoid behind getting   
trapped in what was starting to look like a huge spiderweb.  
  
Trying one last desperate tactic, she leapt toward her tiara, but   
she failed; twelve more chains emerged from the ground, surrounding   
her completely. She only had time to let out a gasp of surprise   
before she was trapped in more chains than she had ever seen in   
her entire life.  
  
"There`s no escaping the chains, young Sailor Moon, your fate has   
been sealed from the instant I let them loose upon you!!!"  
  
Slithering like snakes, the web of dark steel closed in on poor   
Usagi, wrapping around her body and limbs, squeezing until she   
couldn`t move anymore. Then they squeezed more, crushing her throat   
and chest. After years of fighting vile monsters and never losing   
a single battle, Usagi`s nightmare was becoming true.  
  
Sailor Moon had finally met her match, and she wouldn`t live to tell   
about it.  
  
* * *  
  
The sailor scouts ran as fast as their legs would allow them, Tuxedo   
Kamen ahead of them, going through the trees that surrounded the   
place where Sailor Moon was fighting for her life. Seconds seemed   
to last for centuries as they just couldn`t move as quickly as they   
wanted to. They managed to find their way only to find her being   
slowly murdered by the chains of Mephistofeles.  
  
"You`re too late to save her, there`s nothing you can do." said   
Daemonfang who enjoyed each second of her enemy`s slow, painful   
death.  
  
"We`ll see about that..." said Sailor Venus. "VENUS CRESCENT   
BEAM SMASH!"  
  
Forming on the tip of her finger, a golden bolt of energy soared   
through the air and conncted directly with one of the chains which   
help Usagi in the air like a fly in a spiderweb. Upon contact, it   
dissipated with no effect.  
  
"Didn`t I say you couldn`t win? Just surrender and I assure you a   
swift death, unlike your doomed leader." said the demon.  
  
"We still have a chance: we must combine our powers!" said Sailor   
Mercury.  
  
So they did. In an instant, five powerful attacks combined in a   
single point: Mercury`s ice blast, Mars`s fire rings, Venus`s energy   
chain, Jendra`s chromatic blast and Jupiter`s thunder bolt. An   
explosion of light ensued, and when the scouts could see again they   
witnessed the result of their combined effort.  
  
Total failure.   
  
Sailor Moon was still being strangled by the dark steel chains.   
Tuxedo Kamen finally jumped in the air, avoiding most of the moving   
links to reach the middle of the huge web where his lover was held.  
  
"Hold on, Sailor Moon, don`t die!" he pleaded as he tried in vain to   
break the chains that couldn`t be broken.  
  
Darkness began to veil Sailor Moon`s vision and sounds around her   
became faint and distant. "Please don`t die..." she heard him say   
one last time. Unable to speak, she just smiled as a single tear   
rolled from her eyes. She the stopped breathing and fought the   
chains no more.  
  
"No...this can`t be happening..." whispered Tuxedo Kamen in   
disbelief. Their work done, the chains swiftly retreated to   
Daemonfang`s arm where they moved no more. Sailor Moon`s body fell   
to the ground, any trace of life crushed away. The scouts stood   
unmoving, frozen in shock.  
  
"Goodbye, everyone, it was nice seeing you again. I must return   
these to my ancestor`s crypt, so I`ll take my leave now. Don`t look   
so sad, we`ll see each other real soon, I promise!" said Daemonfang   
who then stepped back in the silver portal wich then disappeared.   
Thunder wracked the sky and a hundred portals opened throughout   
Tokyo, both on the ground and in the sky.   
  
The invasion had begun.  
  
* * *  
  
The memories of Usagi where fleeting and hard to recollect; fighting   
Lady Daemonfang, the chains coming to life, her darling Tuxedo Kamen   
begging her to hold on... then darkness. One thing was sure: the   
pain was gone, and so were all her fears and anguishes. She felt   
released, liberated, she was free to bathe in the blinding light all   
around her. As bright as it was, it still did not hurt her eyes.   
There had to be a reason, but she did not care to find out. All she   
wanted to do was to rest and dream of peace and quiet.  
  
"Usagi..." whispered a familiar voice.  
  
"Who is this?" she softly asked, unable to tell where it came from.  
  
"Usagi... come to me, my daughter..."  
  
"Father? Is that you?" she asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Like an angelic vision, the spirit of Technazul Terra appeared to   
her. Tall and muscular, he was just like Usagi had imagined with   
blond hair and blue eyes. Even in this ethereal form, he still wore   
his silver guardian uniform. He opened his arms and Usagi did not   
hesitate a second to hug him.   
  
"I`ve waited a thousand years to do this." she said.  
  
"I know. I`ve always been with you, my angel."  
  
"Father, I must ask... am I dead?"  
  
"That is not certain yet. The chains of Mephistofeles did kill your   
body, so you stopped breathing and your heart does not beat anymore.   
I was able to prevent your soul from being stolen by the chains,   
however, and it may reach the great beyond without further   
hindrance. Your friends are trying to bring you back to life and   
your body may still be revived, although you may not return there   
without paying a heavy price for doing so." explained Technazul.  
  
* * *  
  
"Come on, Usagi, don`t give up on us!" pleaded Sailor Mercury as   
she tried to kick start Sailor Moon`s heart with CPR while Tuxedo   
Kamen gave her mouth-to-mouth ressucitation. It had been almost   
seven minutes since the chains had released her inanimate body and   
her friends were losing hope quickly.  
  
Above their heads, unnatural storm clouds had formed in seconds,   
delivering a fierce thunderstorm to welcome the dozens of demons,   
knightmares and wicked beasts wich entered the first sphere through   
a hundred portals.  
  
"This is terrible, she can`t die like this!" said Minako, breaking   
in tears.  
  
"Hold on, Usagi, you`re not dying on us today, I won`t allow you!"   
ordered Ami, holding back her own tears with all her might.  
  
* * *  
  
"Father, you say I may still go back to earth instead of dying, if   
I pay the price... what may this price be?" asked Usagi to the   
spirit of the man who had been her father a millenium ago.  
  
"Something you may not be able to accept, yet you must." he said.  
  
"Please tell me!"  
  
"You must give up your powers. You must also accept that you will   
NEVER BE A SAILOR SCOUT AGAIN!"  
  
"What? Give up being a scout?" she said, bewildered.  
  
"Yes, my daughter. You will never achieve your true destiny if you   
do not give this up."  
  
"If I must make this sacrifice... then I will." she sadly answered.  
  
"You will one day understand it was not in vain." whispered her   
father in her ears.   
  
Then she felt her lungs burning, along with a horrible stabbing pain   
in her chest.  
  
* * *  
  
"She`s breathing! She`s breathing again!" yelled Tuxedo Kamen, tears   
of joy rolling down his face, mixing with the dreadful rain brought   
on by the demonic invasion.  
  
"Her heart`s beating too!" added the ecstatic Sailor Mercury to   
everyone`s relief.  
  
Then, by some unexplained phenomena, Sailor Moon`s locket opened,   
revealing the silver crystal; the crystal removed itself from the   
locket, floating upwards slowly. It glowed brightly as a flurry of   
magic ribbons transformed Sailor Moon back into Usagi. After the   
change was complete, it vanished in a blinding flash after which   
Usagi opened her eyes again.  
  
"Did I miss anything?" she mumbled.  
  
"Take it easy, bunny, you just came back from the dead." said   
Tuxedo Kamen as he took off his cape used it to protect her from   
the icy cold rain.  
  
"Would you mind telling us what was the deal with your crystal   
disappearing like that?" asked Sailor Jendra.  
  
"Yeah, why did you change like this before you came back in the land   
of the living?" asked Mars.  
  
"It`s the price I had to pay to come back here, in this body... I`ll   
never be a sailor scout again." explained Usagi who cuddled to Tuxedo   
Kamen who picked her up.  
  
Armies of darkness marched into the japanese capital, spreading their   
evil to all that they could see and touch. This battle the scouts   
would have to fight without their leader who was no more, her   
supernatural powers stripped away.  
  
"You must go on fighting evil without me..." she said in sad   
resignation. "I`m finished."  
  
  
To be continued  



	15. One Last Shot at Glory

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
The story so far...  
  
The nexus, the barrier separating the infinite parallel worlds of   
the omniverse, is about to go into a recessive phase wich will make   
any portals from the tenth sphere into the earth dimension impossible   
for a very long time. Eager to take vengence on the sailor scouts   
before this happens, the demon lord Lady Daemonfang lures Sailor   
Moon into a trap; she fights the pretty soldier in a one on one   
battle at the end of wich she unleashes an ancient weapon upon   
Sailor Moon, the chains of Mephistofeles. They attain their goal   
successfully, killing the champion of the moon regardless of the   
other scouts` attempt to free her of the dark steel chains.  
  
Meeting the spirit of her previous incarnation`s deceased father,   
she manages to come back to life, at a terrible price: never again   
will she be a sailor scout.  
  
As her friends realize the sacrifice she made, a hundred portals   
open throughout Tokyo; Daemonfang`s invasion of the city has begun.  
  
And now, part II...  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 15  
  
DESCENT INTO DARKNESS, PART 2: ONE LAST SHOT AT GLORY  
  
  
Take a huge blue planet with a thick atmosphere and cover four   
fifths of its surface with water. Then, heat it unevenly, giving a   
warm climate at the equator and polar temperatures at the poles.   
You`ll get a planet where the weather is at best unpredictable, not   
to say totally chaotic.  
  
The huge masses of cold and warm air colliding, the large masses   
of water vapor and the occasional geothermal activity will make it   
virtually impossible to tell if the sun will really shine tomorrow.   
Should magic make its way into this volatile equilibrium, all hell   
will break loose.   
  
Litteraly.  
  
"I`m afarid, Shingo!" said Chibi-Usa to Usagi`s brother, the man   
who would one day be her uncle. "I know that mommy is out there   
somewhere, she`s in danger, I just know it!"  
  
"I know, but I can`t go out there and leave you here alone. What   
if one of those monsters I saw came here while you`re all by   
yourself?" said Shingo. He could feel the unnatural energy flowing   
through the air; it clashed silently with the natural Technum of   
the earth, rushing a surge of raw power through his veins.  
  
"I want to go help her, please come with me to find her!" she   
pleaded.  
  
"Are you sure? It`ll be hell out there!"  
  
"Yes, I`ll do anything to help Sailor Moon!" courageously said   
Chibi-Usa.  
  
"Okay then... I`ll go upstairs get my uniform, transform before we   
leave the house." said Shingo, racing up the stairs to fetch his   
emerald green costume.  
  
Lightning tore the sky, revealing the shadows of many demons flying   
left and right throughout the town; Chibi-Usa was going to help fix   
this situation as Sailor Chibi-Moon.  
  
* * *  
  
A blinking light had been flashing on the comm-screen of the saturn   
station beta`s medical bay for well over an hour now, but Technuma   
Saturn was much too busy with dermoregenerator maintenance to even   
notice it. In the end, Ramatech Jupiter went there himself to tell   
of the latest energy readings over Tokyo.  
  
"Didn`t you pay any attention to the calls we sent you?" asked the   
massive guardian.  
  
"I need all my focus on my job. You wouldn`t want your life support   
to fail while you`re floating in one of these pods, would you?"   
replied Technuma. "So, what`s happening that I should have taken   
notice of?"  
  
"Energy readings from earth, they show a massive transdimensional   
breach that`s getting stronger steadily."  
  
"I`ll definitely have to keep an eye on that. My girl is down there,   
after all." said Technuma.  
  
"Aren`t you going to do anything about it?"  
  
"I already did all I could. If I were a religious person, I`d pray."   
simply replied the pragmatic guardian.  
  
"I sincerely hope you prepared her adequately." commented Ramatech.  
  
"So do I."   
  
* * *  
  
Their fur drenched by the pouring rain, Luna and Artemis moved   
through the streets to reach the spot where the scouts where   
heading; their little legs were racing fast as they tried to avoid   
the panicked crowds as well as the monsters running everywhere.  
  
"This is awful, we have to find out from the girls just what is   
happening!" said Luna.  
  
"This is far worse than anything I could have ever imagined, and   
it`s not likely to improve soon!" added Artemis.  
  
Bouncing over walls, through holes in fences and taking every   
shortcut they knew, they finally caught up with Tuxedo Kamen; he was   
walking alone down an alley, carrying the sleeping Usagi in his   
arms; she was wrapped up in his cape, though it was now just as   
soaked as Usagi`s wet, cold clothes.  
  
"What happened? Why isn`t she in uniform???" asked Luna.  
  
"It`s bad, Luna. She fought Daemonfang alone... and lost. She was   
dead for a few minutes, and when she came back to life, her costume   
vanished, and so did the silver crystal. Usagi is an ordinary girl   
again, as she was before she met you for the first time." he   
explained.  
  
"She looks terrible, we must find a spot to let her rest for a   
while." said Artemis.  
  
"I know. That`s what I was looking for when I met you two." said   
Tuxedo Kamen. He looked around and saw an open door nearby; he went   
in and noticed that he had stumbled into the remains of the former   
"Club Crystal" discotheque.  
  
"She`ll be safe in here. It`s totally deserted and abandonned."   
observed Luna.  
  
"I never imagined something good would come out of this place."   
said Artemis.  
  
"Neither did I. What matters is that Usagi can rest." said Tuxedo   
Kamen as he brought Usagi in the manager`s office and placed her   
delicately in the comfortable (although dusty) chair.  
  
"You can leave her in our care, no one will come in here. The city   
needs your help right now." said Artemis. Luna agreed with her.  
  
"I don`t like this, but... I believe you`re right. I`ll come back   
later to check on Usagi." said Tuxedo Kamen. He turned around and   
left the relative comfort of the abandonned club for the cruelty of   
the thunderstorm.  
  
* * *  
  
The ancient gargoyles growled menacingly when they saw the steel   
doors of their sanctuary open; they quickly calmed down, however,   
when they realized that it was Lady Daemonfang`s allies, Ithzhanh   
and Akuma Kamen, who carried the chest wich contained the sleeping   
chains of Mephistofeles. They silently observed the demons as they   
placed the chest back in its place, in the middle of the circle of   
gargoyles.  
  
"I must admit that these chains are impressive. I never would have   
thought that any weapon could have single handedly defeat the   
champion of earth." said Akuma Kamen.  
  
"Did you doubt my mother, Akuma? Or were you hoping that Sailor   
Moon would defeat her, maybe?" whispered Ithzhanh.  
  
"Silence, little maggot!" he growled back, his eyes glowing bright   
red. "Doubt my loyalty just one more time and I`ll have my wife,   
your mother, send you to the ore mines!".  
  
This was no small threat, as the guards who motivated the prisoners   
working there were recruited among the prisoners who managed to live   
more than ten years despite the cruel and viscious treatment given   
by the other guards. By becoming guards themselves, the former   
prisoners took their vengence for their ten years of abuse by being   
brutal themselves. This vicious cycle ensured both merciless guards   
and productive prisoners (as long as they managed to remain alive).  
  
"Like she`d listen to you! I`m the royal overseer in this kingdom,   
you`re nothing more than a glorified sex toy!" taunted the   
disgusting little demon.  
  
"Precisely." said Akuma Kamen, a wide smile drawing upon his lips.   
"All I have to do is give her an orgasm and whisper in her ear what   
I`d like her to do for me."  
  
Ithzhanh shivered as he heard these words and realized he was right.   
  
"Let`s go back to the surface." ordered the seductive demon to the   
ugly one. "Our lord mistress awaits our return for the next phase of   
the plan."  
  
* * *  
  
"So, Mercury, what`s the plan?" asked Sailor Jupiter, nervously   
impatient to pound some demons into the ground.  
  
"Our first step is to find their central area of operations within   
the city. So many portals require some kind of controlling device.   
If my computer can`t keep track of so many portals, a magician`s   
mind couldn`t possibly be expected to do that either." she explained.   
"There`s something more to these portals... transporting these   
troops should only require about ten to twenty portals,   
strategically located in the city, and besides, since the nexus   
shuts off her world from ours in a few days, this invasion would be   
pointless unless..."  
  
"Unless she plans to take the entire city back to her own world?"   
completed Sailor Jendra before Mercury could complete her sentence.   
The others looked at her in disbelief. "It was just a wild guess."   
she said in self-defense.  
  
"A wild guess that is right nonetheless. If we can find her control   
system and destroy it, all portals linked to it should backfire and   
close, most likely sucking the demons back in at the same time."   
continued Mercury.  
  
"So what`s the catch?" wondered Mars.  
  
"The portal activity is too intense to allow me to pinpoint the   
precise location. We`ll have to go through the entire city to find   
it, and let`s not forget the hordes of evil beasts roaming the   
streets who won`t agree with our view of what should be done."   
she explained.  
  
"Any more good news?" asked Mars with cynicism.  
  
"To my best estimate, we only have until sunset to find and destroy   
this device. Otherwise, we`d better get used to being ruled by   
demons." said Mercury.  
  
"We should split up, cover as much ground as possible; the first one   
who finds this location calls the others. Simple elimination!"   
suggested Minako. All the scouts agreed.  
  
"Just keep in mind that Daemonfang is not likely to leave this   
control system unguarded; you can expect entire batallions to be   
waiting there. Whatever you do, don`t try anything on your own, any   
of you! You`d be overwhelmed in a second." added Mercury.  
  
They all split up, each running in a different direction for one   
of the many possible locations where Daemonfang might be keeping her   
portal generating system. Tokyo is a very large place, and the five   
of them could only cover so much of it.  
  
* * *  
  
Darkness surrounding her all around, Usagi stood alone inside a   
thick beam of light coming from somewhere above her, though she   
couldn`t tell where exactly. How she got there, she had no idea   
either. Her familiar Sailor Moon uniform taken away from her, she   
reminisced about all the battles she went through, all the impossible   
odds stacked against her she`d beaten over the years. She wished   
she could wear that uniform again and knew that she never would.  
  
Another beam of light appeared from distance from Usagi, revealing   
the mighty Sailor Mars.  
  
"The sailor scout of the moon is no more." she said solemnly.  
  
Then, another beam of light revealed Sailor Mercury right next to   
Mars.  
  
"She has faded into history, passed into the memory of those she has   
touched." she added.  
  
Another one, next to Mercury, revealed Sailor Jupiter.  
  
"She has crossed over into the unknown lands of destiny, into the   
merciful hands of fate." she said.  
  
Another beam, another scout. Sailor Venus appeared next to Mars.  
  
"She has become something greater, yet she does not understand   
it..." she said.  
  
From out of the surrounding darkness, Sailor Jendra walked straight   
into Usagi`s beam. She smiled and made her a heartfelt request. "Will   
you teach us what you learned so that we may follow you?"  
  
"But I`ve learned nothing, I lost all that I had!" protested Usagi.   
"How can I lead any of you down a path that destroyed everything I   
was?"  
  
A sixth voice echoed from the darkness, from a presence that was   
close but unseen, soothing Usagi with words of encouragement. "Not   
all that is old is necessarily good, sometimes the obsolete must   
be destroyed to leave room for what is to be built in its place...   
we`re all counting on you, rabbit of the moon."  
  
With these final words, Usagi woke up to find herself lying down on   
a dusty desk in what looked like a deserted office.  
  
"Where am I?" she wondered.  
  
"The managing office of the former Club Crystal. Mamoru brought   
you here after you came back to life. Artemis and I have been   
keeping an eye on you." said Luna.  
  
"This near death experience left you in a pretty bad shape, not   
even the thunderstorm outside could stop you from sleeping."   
commented Artemis.  
  
"Lightning doesn`t scare me anymore." said Usagi. "When I held   
Storm Seeker, I felt a kinship with thunder that..." she explained,   
but was interrupted by the defeaning crash of thunder. "WHAAAAA!!!"   
she screamed in terror.  
  
"So much for her newfound courage." observed Luna.  
  
* * *  
  
Searching the loading docks on her own, Sailor Jupiter mustered all   
of her strenght to remain calm and not show her fear; not that she`d   
ever admit to being scared. The last time she came here, she didn`t   
feel that fear, but she wasn`t alone to fight off Zoisite and   
Kunzite at the time. Her trek had been uneventful so far, meeting   
only a few panicked citizens who were running back to their homes   
or to some other place where they thought would be safe. News of   
the invasion was spreading fast, and soon everyone in town knew.  
  
She had no luck finding anyone or anything, though.  
  
"If they were here, I`d have found them by now." she thought,   
turning around and running to another part of town. On her way back,  
she chose to cut through a building construction site in order to   
save some time.  
  
Unknown to her, a portal had been opened on the other side of the   
very same site in order to dispatch a kitling patrol to ensure that   
nobody was hiding in this part of town. Standing behind a large pile   
of concrete bags, they remained concealed from her sight until she   
walked right by them. Face to face with their leader Ithzhanh, she   
didn`t know how to react.  
  
To say that she was surprised to meet three dozen kitlings as they   
were receiving orders from Ithzhanh himself is quite an   
understatement. She froze in stupor as she saw the monsters, as did   
they. Sailor Jupiter had expected to see a lot of evil creatures as   
she ventured in town, but certainly not from so close as to actually   
smell Ithzhanh`s foul stench! Surprise can only last so long,   
however, and Jupiter gave the foul little beast the strongest punch   
she could before she turned back and ran like hell. Picking himself   
from the muddy ground, the sickening beast screamed at his troops   
who just stood there, staring at their leader.  
  
"Catch her, you idiots! Surround her!" screamed the demon, massaging   
his hurting jaw.  
  
Knowing well she couldn`t outrun an entire squadron of these   
monsters, she jumped as high as she could, landing on the first floor   
of the tall building`s unfinished structure. Her frantic climb would   
buy her some time, at least not to mention try out something she   
always wanted to do...  
  
"Catch her for your mistress, your overseer commands it!!!" yelled   
Ithzhanh, joining in the climb using his powerful limbs to give him   
speed, while his claws easily punched holes in the metallic   
structure to provide handholes; he couldn`t really fly like his   
mother did, but that didn`t stop him from keeping up with his nimble   
kitling troops.  
  
Jupiter hoped her plan would work; once she had reached the top of   
the structure, she`d be stuck there without any options. A single   
bolt of her lightning would kill her as well as them if she missed   
and hit the steel beams...  
  
"That`s it, kitties, come to me." she thought, as she heard the   
rumbling in the sky above her. She looked down and saw, ten stories   
underneath, a large pool of still liquid cement. Well, it LOOKED   
liquid from where she stood. "There`s a chance I`ll have to take,   
and aim carefully, too..." she thought.  
  
With only a few more feet to go until his soldiers caught the tall   
fighter, Ithzhanh jubilated. "Nowhere left to go, you might as well   
surrender right now!" he screamed.  
  
"Wanna bet? JUPITER THUNDER..." began to shout Sailor Jupiter as   
she plunged down in a superb angel dive. "...CRASH!!!" she completed   
as she soared down; a lightning bolt shot from her tiara and hit   
directly the central pillar of the metal structure, utterly failing   
to strike any of the monsters. Upon reaching the ground, her fall   
was broken by the splashing liquid cement which had just the right   
consistence for this kind of stunt. She was bruised all over her   
body, but her fall had been broken instead of her neck.  
  
Ithzhanh laughed as he thought the girl was actually trying to   
shoot him and missed. Actually, she was aiming for the middle pillar   
itself, wich was now electrically charged into a huge lightning   
rod. Thunder struck almost instantly at the large structure, frying   
to a crisp the entire kitling squadron and their leader who all   
fell down like moths after burning themselves on a hot lightbulb.  
  
"I can`t believe that really worked... what`s Jackie Chan got that I   
don`t?" thought Jupiter, cleaning the cement from her clothes and   
hair in the pouring rain. She then left without noticing that the   
stubborn Ithzhanh was simply refusing to die.  
  
"I`ll kill you myself, you tall bitch, I swear I will!" he whispered,   
rolling himself in the cold muddy puddles to cool down his smoldering   
skin. His entire body was covered with horribly painful second and   
third degree burns.  
  
* * *  
  
"PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!" screamed Sailor Jendra who sent flying   
seven razor sharp boomerangs with lethal accuracy; they carved   
mercilessly a trio of knightmare that was trying to round up a group   
of high schoool students.  
  
The teenagers were quite relieved to see the knightmares defeated,   
though they all ran away without putting their gratitude into words.  
  
"You`re welcome." she said sarcastically. Sailor Jendra was tired   
from all this running around and fighting evil monsters. She didn`t   
care what the others would say if they saw he; she was going to take   
a minute to smoke one before her nerves tangled up in a little ball.  
  
Taking solace from the driving rain inside a bus stop shelter, she   
took a cigarette and light it, feeling her tension ease up as she   
inhaled the soothing blue smoke.  
  
"You really shouldn`t do that, you know, it`s bad for your lungs."   
said a familiar voice behind her.  
  
"Now Mamoru`s getting on my case, too?" thought Sailor Jendra. She   
turned around to give him a witty reply she kept in reserve for just   
such an occasion, but she couldn`t as much as move her lips. Her   
cigarette fell from her limp mouth straight into a large puddle at   
her feet where its fire was doused off with a hiss.  
  
IT had Mamoru`s voice. IT had Mamoru`s face. IT was not Mamoru, but   
an abomination the likes of which she could only imagine in   
nightmares, and she fancied herself an expert in that department.  
  
"Yes, I know, most people react this way when they see me for the   
first time." said Akuma Kamen. He threw a punch right through the   
shelter`s glass wall and sent Sailor Jendra flying in the air to   
land in the middle of the street.  
  
The demon walked towards her, but was disapointed to see her hurt   
her too badly to allow her to keep on fighting.  
  
"Tsk tsk. These champions of justice are just not what they`re   
cracked up to be." he said, contemplating the large cut on her   
forehead. He dragged his finger through the dripping blood and   
tasted it. "Not at all what we need." he thought.  
  
"What are you?" she said softly, trying to keep awake.  
  
"I am light and dark combined, day and night fused together into   
a permanent eclipse of the soul... I am Akuma Kamen, the instrument   
of your doom." he said menacingly. Like all demons, he truly enjoyed   
gloating.  
  
"You leave her alone." said a feminine voice coming from the   
distance.  
  
"Who said that?" asked the demon.  
  
"I did." said a young fighter who seemed to have appeared out of   
nowhere; dressed in a crimson and white scout uniform, it struck   
Akuma that this was not one of his wife`s enemies.  
  
"I`ve never seen you before, who are you?"  
  
"I am Sailor Saturn brought back to life; it is one of your ilk who   
murdered my predecessor, for wich you will pay!" she said, fire   
burning in her eyes. "You will be the first one to receive   
retribution for the crimes of your kind. Let`s fight, you and me,   
right here!"  
  
"Don`t mind if I do!" said the demon. "So this is your first fight,   
is it? I will take pleasure in giving you your very first beating...   
and most likely your last."  
  
Sailor Saturn lifted her arms in the air, charging them with   
powerful Technum energy that took the shape of beautiful wings.  
  
"SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!" she screamed, unleashing a flurry of sharp   
feather shaped crimson projectiles.  
  
Akuma Kamen dodged them easily with his demonic agility by jumping   
high in the air, bearing down on her wings open into a massive dive   
attack.  
  
While these two fought valiantly, Sailor Jendra managed to use her   
communicator and call for help; she pushed buttons at random, so she   
didn`t really know who she called exactly; all she knew was that   
someone on the other end of the line had promised to come quickly.  
  
Then she fainted.  
  
* * *  
  
"Wake up, Laurella!" she heard through the darkness. When she opened   
her eyes, Sailor Jendra saw the sweet face of Sailor Venus and...   
and... HIM!!! She screamed her head off while Mamoru tried to calm   
her down.  
  
"Whoa, stop it! It`s just me, Tuxedo Kamen, stop yelling..." he   
pleaded, until Jendra slowly stopped screaming; she looked at him,   
then began telling of what she saw.  
  
"HE looked just like you!!!" she said over and over whenever she was   
asked about the demon. "He said he was Akuma Kamen, he had your voice   
and your face!" she finally managed to say.  
  
"And who was the girl looking over you when we arrived? She left   
before we could see exactly who she was." said Sailor Venus.  
  
"I`m not really sure, but I think she`s... Sailor Saturn." answered   
Jendra.  
  
"I thought she was dead!" said Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
"So did I." replied Venus.  
  
* * *  
  
Instead of running without a plan, Sailor Mercury had asked herself   
how she could spot Daemonfang`s base of operation on this side of   
the nexus faster.   
  
"She will need lots of soldiers to guard herself from our assault.   
Where could this kind of gathering be held?".   
  
It had to be a place concealed from view as well as very large to   
accomodate huge amounts of knightmares and other beasts. It didn`t   
take her long to think of one place that was likely to be used by   
Daemonfang: the baseball stadium. It was indeed one of the sites   
of intense portal activity; it was also easily within her reach.  
  
Sneaking her way inside, she carefully made her way to the playing   
field where she saw what she was looking for: hundreds of monsters   
guarding a strange magical cube in the middle of the field, and   
eight smaller cubes placed all around. The smaller cubes radiated a   
strong green energy field wich flowed into the central, larger cube.   
Near that magical relic was the leader of all forces demonic: Lady   
Daemonfang. She was speaking to another demon next to her, but was   
much too far away to figure out what they could be talking about,   
not to mention that their conversation was totally drowned by the   
knightmares` very loud songs of victory.  
  
Satisfied by her discovery, she sneaked away in one of the maze of   
corridors that lead to the outside of the stadium.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ithzhanh barely managed to drag himself through the portal; he`s in   
the healers` care right now, clinging on to life with every ounce of   
strenght he has." said Daemonfang to Akuma Kamen.  
  
"That scout really did a number on him." said Akuma, letting out a   
faint snicker. "I was beaten by one myself, but at least I got away   
with my skin intact. Did you know that another one has joined their   
ranks? She fought really well, too, chased me as long as she could.   
If it wasn`t for that portal I ducked in, she`d still be on my   
tail."  
  
"It matters not that you lost, or how many they are. As long as they   
find their way here, we`ll be able to get what we need for the final   
phase or our plan." said Daemonfang.  
  
"What if they don`t come?" wondered her husband, knowing well the   
effects of a fizzled ritual of this magnitude.   
  
"They will come, trust me. It`s their nature, and it`s also their   
most reliable weakness." said Daemonfang who was beginning to wish   
that the stadium had a roof. As it stood, she was starting to find   
this downpour rather annoying.  
  
* * *  
  
"I should have thought about it!" said Sailor Mars to Mercury over   
the comm line.  
  
"Just come as soon as you can, there`s not much time to sunset!"   
pleaded Mercury. Her words did not reach Sailor Mars who suddenly   
found herself attacked by a horde of kitlings.  
  
"BURNING MANDALA!" she yelled, forming her trusted rings of fire; she   
managed to cut down most of them, but one remained; she wanted to   
fry him as well, unfortunately her body didn`t agree. The fatigue   
she`d been carrying for the past few days had finally caught up with   
her, immobilizing her stiff muscles instantly.  
  
Helpless and believing she`d be dead in a second, Mars closed her   
eyes, awaiting to be ripped open by the raging beast. That never did   
happen; a heart-shaped ball of fire soared through the air and hit   
the kitling in the chest, consuming the beast in mere seconds.  
  
"What... happened?" she wondered.  
  
"I did it! I did it!" said Sailor Chibi-Moon, happy to have helped   
her friend Sailor Mars. Along with her was the reincarnated   
Kitechnum Jendra.  
  
"You learn fast, little warrior." complimented Kitechnum.  
  
"I learned from the best teachers in the world." said the small   
lady.   
  
"Come on, let`s go finish this once and for all." said Mars,   
mustering all her strenght to get moving.  
  
* * *  
  
"Yeah, Mercury, I`m feeling much better now. Thanks for asking."   
said Usagi through her communicator, one of the rare pieces of   
evidence remaining that she had ever been Sailor Moon. Now that   
she couldn`t transform anymore, it felt like all of her previous   
battles were no more than an old dream fading away.  
  
"This should be over soon, stay hidden until we managed to take down   
Daemonfang and her goons. It`s way too dangerous outside right now,  
we don`t want you getting hurt." said Sailor Mercury. She signed  
off afterwards.   
  
"You know, Luna, it doesn`t really matter that I don`t have any   
powers left- I should be out there with them, not stuck in here with   
a pair of babysitters!" protested Usagi.  
  
"You heard Ami, it`s too dangerous. Besides, I don`t think of   
Artemis and I as babysitters." said Luna. The black cat noticed   
Usagi was using a hair pin to open her watch and tinker with   
the mechanism. "Hey, what are you doing?"  
  
"Ami wouldn`t tell me where the scouts were going, but I remember   
her doing this.. if I do it right, I`ll be able to tap into their   
mutual radio signals AND track its source. I`ll know what they say   
to each other and where they are!" explained Usagi. "Hang around a   
genius long enough, you learn a thing or two."  
  
"Wait a minute, you can`t go out there! You were clinicly dead just   
an hour ago, do you want the freaks to complete the job this time?!?"   
protested Artemis. As usual, Usagi wouldn`t hear of it. "What do we   
do now?" he asked Luna as Usagi left through the door.  
  
"Follow her, and hope she won`t get herself killed again." said the   
exasperated Luna.  
  
* * *  
  
Taking shelter from the rain in the stadium`s parking, the scouts   
got together along with their allies Tuxedo Kamen and Kitechnum   
Jendra. Using a few empty soda cans and cigarette packs from a   
nearby trash can, Mercury began assembling a small visual display   
of what Daemonfang`s setup in the playing field looked like.  
  
"This," she explained, "is the central cube wich is currently   
charging up from the smaller cubes placed all around the field."   
she said, placing small wads of rolled up paper on the appropriate   
locations.  
  
"What`s this?" asked Venus, pointing to the many pebbles strewn all   
about the display.  
  
"A rough demonstration of how many troops she`s got surrounding the   
place. Each pebble is worth ten to fifty soldiers, more or less."   
she said.  
  
"That`s gonna be rough." said Jupiter. "What`s that, on the side?"   
she then asked.  
  
"That`s a chocolate wrapper." said Mercury, picking up and tossing   
away the silver foil ball. "What we must do is surround the place   
and destroy all the small cubes at once. The backlash should destroy   
the bigger cube and turn the portals into an invert particule   
charge..."  
  
Mercury looked at the stares of confusion of the other fighters.   
Once again, she was giving more details than they needed.  
  
"The portals should suck back all the demons into their world,   
leaving the population of Tokyo untouched." she said. This time,   
it was simple enough so that everyone got it.  
  
"There is a problem, Mercury- there`s EIGHT cubes to blow and we   
don`t have Sailor Moon anymore, remember? Tuxedo Kamen`s roses will   
require Sailor Chibi-Moon`s energy as a backup to be effective   
against those things, that leaves us one person short" observed   
Mars.  
  
"Then let me lend you my strenght." said Sailor Saturn, whom no one   
had noticed sneak her way near.  
  
"Sailor Saturn, so you really DO exist! I was beginning to wonder   
if I hadn`t imagined you or something..." said Jendra.  
  
"There`s a lot I want to ask you, but we don`t have much time left.   
Formal introductions will have to wait." observed Mercury.   
"Everybody take a spot around the field, hide in the corridors until   
we have a clean shot; I`ll monitor the situation and give the signal   
when there`s an opportunity to strike. Let`s move out!"  
  
* * *  
  
Listening in to her rigged-up communicator, Usagi was able to get   
all the information she needed. Despite the two cats trying to stop   
her, she had ran through the thunderstorm to the stadium.  
  
"Please, Usagi, don`t do this... you can`t possibly join this battle   
and live!" said Artemis.  
  
"You don`t know how much it hurt to see you die a thousand years   
ago... we don`t want it to happen again." said Luna.  
  
"I understand, Luna my friend." she said. "But I also have an   
obligation to fulfill, even if it takes my life." said Usagi as   
she pulled out of her pocket a small object of delicately carved   
pink crystal, the luna pen, the only weapon she had left which   
didn`t require Sailor Moon`s energy to work.  
  
"Luna pen... transform me into the champion of love and justice,   
SAILOR MOON!" she said as she raised the crystal into the air. A   
blinding flash of light later, she was turned into Sailor Moon...   
in appearance only, for the luna pen was incapable of granting any   
power, save that of disguise..  
  
"I think I know what my friends want to do, I don`t think they can   
do it without some kind of distraction." she said.  
  
Sailor Moon entered the stadium courageously for her final battle   
against the invasion forces.  
  
* * *  
  
Hiding behind a row of seats located near one of the eight small   
cubes, Sailor Mercury monitered the movements of the knightmare   
forces charged to protect them. There was much more of them than   
the first time she sneaked in the stadium; this surplus of forces   
was throwing off her plan, as destroying the energy devices would   
take several seconds of intense bombardment. Several seconds was   
all that these highly trained knightmares required to kill anyone,   
especially since there was so many of them.  
  
The green energy glow from the small cubes to the large one was   
rapidly intensifying; time was running out. If the evil soldiers   
didn`t relent from their positions quickly, then a single desperate   
option remained: a suicide rush forward, one that would hopefully   
succeed altough it would cost every single one of their lives.  
  
Just as Mercury was about to give the signal to charge despite the   
massive number of soldiers between them and their targets, a miracle   
occured. All of the knightmares began to look away, their attention   
drawn by something that none of them could believe, something so   
incredible that not even Sailor Mercury trusted her eyes when she   
realized what it was.  
  
The crowd of knightmare opened up like the red sea at Moses` command   
to let through the sailor scout who had died at Lady Daemonfang`s   
hands earlier that day. Sailor Moon walked forward slowly towards   
Daemonfang and Akuma Kamen who couldn`t believe that someone had   
been slain by the chains of Mephistofeles and lived to tell about   
it.  
  
A ghastly silence fell, a frightning moment of uncertainty where   
no one was quite too sure about what should be done.  
  
"She`s dead!" was heard being whispered somewhere.  
  
"The chains killed her!" said another.  
  
"That`s impossible!" said another.  
  
So bewildered were the knightmares that none dared stand in Sailor   
Moon`s way as she walked towards the two demons lords. She stopped   
in front of them, staring silently without as much as blinking. In   
that one moment of unflinching determination, there was more power   
in her eyes than she had ever used with her tiara and scepter put   
together.  
  
"And so she comes, a girl who would not stand down for all the evil   
thrown in her way, who refused to stop fighting even when death   
itself called her name. Welcome, hero, we have been waiting for   
you." said Daemonfang, speaking softly and choosing each word she   
used carefully; this moment would be written down in her world`s   
history, and she wanted to make every phrase she spoke to become   
wisdom for the ages. "Your power did not stop my chains from   
crushing the life in your body, nor will it stop me from claiming   
your lifeblood... the final ingredient in my plane transferrance   
spell."  
  
"My blood isn`t as powerful as you believe. Being a hero is not   
about power, nor is it about fighting evil fiends such as   
yourself..." said Sailor Moon, "it`s about standing up for what you   
believe in, and putting your life on the line time and time again   
to protect something greater than yourself!!!"  
  
Snapping out of her trance, the hidden Sailor Mercury discreetly   
gave the signal to the champions of earth; not a single one of the   
soldiers in bronze armor was paying any attention to the energy   
cubes!  
  
"Indeed, your life is what you will lose. By finding the courage to   
face my army and come to me, you`ve just proven yourself to be a   
true hero!" said Daemonfang, moving her hand ever so slightly in   
Sailor Moon`s direction. Akuma Kamen jumped forward in a wild charge   
that knocked her down; the she-demon noticed something falling out   
of Sailor moon`s hand.  
  
"What do we have here?" she wondered, picking up the luna pen.  
  
"She`s much weaker than before!" said Akuma Kamen. "She can barely   
resist me; clearly, this isn`t the mighty warrior who required the   
chains to be destroyed."  
  
"It doesn`t matter how much power she has." explained Daemonfang,   
crushing the luna pen in her fist; Usagi`s Sailor Moon disguised   
disappeared immediately. "As our little friend just said, it`s her   
heart that makes her a hero, not her ability to throw fireballs, or   
lack thereof. Her blood will be potent enough to complete our ritual;   
only the blood of a true hero can allow us to rip this city from the   
ground and take it home to my realm. I`ll enjoy slicing her up..."   
she added with an evil grin.  
  
Eight beams of energy surged suddenly, hitting the cubes which were   
badly shaken up. The beams pounded the small artifacts heavily,   
cracking them severely. The knightmares realized that they`d been   
tricked, but it was too late. The cubes exploded in a huge green   
flash which reverberated into the large cube; it too cracked and   
disintegrated into nothingness, disrupting the carefully balanced   
energy flow of the huge portal being created.  
  
"No, it`s not possible that you won again! I won`t allow it!"   
screamed Daemonfang as the ground started shaking violently; huge   
gusts of wind came out of nowhere and random portals began forming   
everywhere in Tokyo, sucking in whatever creature it was that   
belonged in the tenth sphere. Akuma Kamen yelled madly as he was   
blown back into his homeworld along with the hundreds of   
knightmares around him, but Daemonfang held on- she grabbed on to   
Usagi, using her as an anchor.  
  
"Either you keep me here or you come back with me!" growled the   
she-demon with anger enough to stop a charging bull dead in its   
tracks. Usagi was too light to provide much support to the hulking   
beast, however, and was being dragged into the uncontrolled silver   
portal along with her nemesis.  
  
"I`ll save you, my love!" thought Tuxedo Kamen who saw his sweetheart   
being taken into the demon world; without any hesitation, he produced   
one of his trademark rose projectiles and threw it towards the   
demon`s hand with wich she was holding on to Usagi`s arm.  
  
The red blurry streak soared through the air, flying in direction   
of its target... and missed by less than an inch.  
  
"NO!" he screamed as he witnessed helplessly his fiancee being taken   
through the portal; after both she and the demon where sucked in, it   
closed down. Calm returned to Tokyo as the invasion had been   
thwarted at last, but peace of mind was not something that Tuxedo   
Kamen would regain any time soon.  
  
He just couldn`t believed he lost her.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	16. Pretty Soldier Reborn

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
The story so far...  
  
After losing her life to Lady Daemonfang and barely getting it back   
at the cost of her scout powers, Usagi found herself powerless to   
fight off the hordes of demons pouring into Tokyo in an attempt to   
bring the japanese metropolis over to their homeworld. In a final   
showdown between good and evil, the scouts faced the armies of   
darkness along with Tuxedo Kamen and Kitechnum Jendra.  
  
In order to buy her friends the initial distraction they needed,   
Usagi used her last scout artifact, the luna pen, to take the   
appearance of Sailor Moon. She faced Daemonfang and Akuma Kamen   
alone, while their portal generators were being destroyed.  
  
Unwilling to lose again, Daemonfang held on to Usagi who was   
dragged along into the demon world known as the tenth sphere.  
  
...and now, part III.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLE OF LIFE: EPISODE 16  
  
DESCENT INTO DARKNESS, PART 3: PRETTY SOLDIER REBORN  
  
  
"It`s been almost twenty-four now since the end of the unbelievable   
events that has come to be called INFERNO by the japanese media, and   
still no one is even close to finding out exactly what happened. Was   
it a disguised terrorist full scale assault on our city? An   
hallucination of city-wide proportions? Or maybe, dare I say it,   
an actual demonic invasion attempt?!? After commercial, we`ll be   
right back with our panel of psychologists who`ll debate over..."   
  
CLICK  
  
Unwilling to watch yet another newscast dedicated to the failed   
invasion attempt of the evil demon lord, Chibi-Usa promptly turned   
off the television. Bored out of her mind, she threw away the remote   
control and huddled to Mamoru who was still blaming himself for   
losing Usagi through that portal.  
  
"Don`t let this eat you up, daddy, it wasn`t your fault." she said.  
  
"Yes it was. I could have saved her, but I missed my shot. We lost   
Usagi because of me." he replied, with all life gone out of his   
sadness laced voice.  
  
Unable to find a suitable response, she simply hugged him, giving all   
the love and support she could. "Now," she thought, "all our hopes   
are in the hands of my friends."  
  
A few meters away from the living room, Mamoru`s kitchen had been   
turned by Ami into an improvised headquarter for the scouts` "Usagi   
rescue operation". Working feverishly on her ocean blue laptop, Ami   
was surrounded by Makoto, Rei, Laurella and Minako who went through   
a huge stack of demon lore in search of any relevant piece of   
information. Their journey was going to be one to the tenth sphere.  
  
"Almost there." said Ami. "I only have to pinpoint the most suitable   
location for our improvised portal and we`ll be set to go. We`ll   
have to hurry, though, my energy monitors seem t indicate that the   
tenth sphere will seal itself from our own universe in a matter of   
hours. Besides, the longer we wait, the more danger Usagi will be   
exposed to."  
  
"She`s a tough girl. I`m sure she can survive a single day in any   
world." said Makoto with optimism.  
  
"As I explained before, the time compression and dilatation effect   
of the nexus tends to make time go faster on the other side. A lot   
of time has elapsed over there..." said Ami.  
  
"How much time?" wondered Minako.  
  
"Taking in account the intense portal activity we just went through   
I`d say... a month." answered Ami. "Give or take a day or two."  
  
* * *  
  
The tenth sphere was a dreadful, sinister outer realm.  
  
In this wretched place stood an even more dreadful fortress ruled by   
a cruel dynasty of demonic overlords. Jagged towers pointing towards   
the lightning-torn sky struck awe in the heart of all who saw them,   
while the horrid vegetation growing around the ooze-filled moat   
looked as if it waited for some unfortunate passerby whom it could   
rip to shred and feed off its blood. For the mostpart, the menacing   
plants could do just that.  
  
All of this terror, however, could in no way compete with the utter   
despair that came from the dank, dark dungeons carved from the sheer   
bedrock of the Changraloor mountain ranges. Deep within the bowels   
of the fortress, no daylight (for what little there was) ever made   
it there; if somehow a lonely light beam made it there, it would   
certainly turn back in sheer revulsion.  
  
When this putrid prison maze was initially created, it had been   
cleverly laid out so that no two cells would be face to face.   
Acoustics, on the other hand, were beyond anything one had ever   
encountered anywhere else. Any prisoner held there could hear with   
crystal clarity the faintest scream of pain emitted from the   
farthest cell of the dungeon.  
  
Deep in the heart of this hellhole, Usagi was being held locked and   
chained. Her clothes were covered with grime and stains; her face   
was quite dirty except for two clean streaks placed there by her   
tears. An entire month of cold humid stone to sleep on with little   
other sound than far echoes of savage thunderstrikes and screams of   
pain from other prisoners was starting to take its toll on her   
sanity. She held on by thinking that her prince would be there   
soon to take her away back to earth.  
  
Just one more day, she thought, he`ll be there.  
  
She kept on hoping that her great love would come, she had to. If   
her hope died, she would perish as well.  
  
In the distance, she heard loud footsteps coming her way. Clawed   
feet raked the rough stone passageway until they stopped right in   
front of her cell. Usagi didn`t stand up for Akuma Kamen. She   
didn`t even bother to look at him or stop tossing bread crumbs to   
the small army of cockroaches across the cell.  
  
"Aren`t you going to say hello?" wondered Akuma as he scraped the   
prison bars with his claws to make a loud screeching sound.  
  
She didn`t reply.  
  
"This conversation is pointless unless you talk back." he added.  
  
"Don`t care." she said without any conviction in her voice.  
  
"I can have you killed right now, did you know that?" he threatened   
her.  
  
"So you told me many times before, yet you never get around to give   
the order." coldly answered Usagi. "Are you going to give it today?"  
  
"I might." snarled the demon, rapidly losing his menacing attitude.  
  
"No, you won`t. I don`t know why, but you won`t." said the girl as   
she finaly lifted her head to meet the demon`s gaze. She had once   
again this defiant flare in her eyes.  
  
Akuma Kamen turned away and left. Apparently, the prison still   
hadn`t broken her will. No matter, he`d be back tomorrow. The   
famous Sailor Moon was in his clutches now, he`d have all the   
time in the world to break her, to turn her into a slave for his   
wife. He grinned at the thought of what a great gift she`d be for   
Lady Daemonfang.  
  
How the mighty had fallen.  
  
* * *  
  
Peering through a large book filled with colorful images, Lady   
Daemonfang turned the pages one at a time, wondering what her new   
tattoo would look like.  
  
"Are there any beasts of the wylde in your book?" she asked the   
tattoo artist, a playful smile on her face. "My dear Akuma is   
particularly fond of dragons and phoenixes."  
  
Moving her four arms with flowing grace, the artist opened the book   
on another chapter filled with such animals.  
  
"I have a large selection of those if you would care to peek at   
them." she explained as she caressed Daemonfang`s surprisingly   
smooth skin. "It will be a great pleasure to honor your flesh with   
my art."  
  
The door of Daemonfang`s luxurious bedroom flew open under the   
bashing fist of the revolting Ithzhanh; the demonlord`s son was   
more hideous than ever, his multiple burn scars complementing his   
foul carrion stench in a sickening manner no one should ever have   
to experience.  
  
"Mother, we have to talk." he said.  
  
"Yuriella, please wait outside." said Daemonfang.  
  
The tattoo artist readily agreed; she avoided the royal overseer as   
much as she could, even tough Daemonfang had implicitly forbidden   
him to kill her. Yuriella just couldn`t stand his presence and hated   
the smell of his breath even more. Her many hands quickly picked up   
her color pots and needles before leaving in a hurry.  
  
"What do you want, Ithzhanh?" asked Daemonfang.  
  
"It`s about your husband, mother. I think he`s taking too many   
liberties with the power you gave him." complained the scarred   
monster.  
  
"Could you be a little more specific?" she replied, taking another   
look at a page full of golden dragons.  
  
"For starter, he should have killed that brat Sailor Moon weeks ago,   
yet she`s still alive! He`s planning something behind your back, I   
just know it!" he explained.  
  
"Of course he is. He promised to break her will so he could turn   
her into my chambermaid. Or into my claw manucurist, I haven`t   
made up my mind yet. He thinks I don`t know about his idea, so I`ll   
pretend to be surprised." said the she-demon.  
  
"I don`t like that boytoy you made yourself- he`s nothing more than   
a bastard halfbreed who will desecrate the throne if you bind your   
blood to his!" screamed Ithzhanh. "I alone deserve to succeed you,   
I alone am of the purest demon blood!!!"   
  
"No, you`re not." whispered Daemonfang in contempt.  
  
"What are you talking about, mother?"  
  
"You think you`re pure blood? Think again, little worm. Ronmar never   
was your father; when you were born, he`d already been gone to the   
magmawastes to fight off the lavafiends for over a year. No, my son,   
you`re a bastard, an unworthy maggot born from the loyal 'services'   
of Jormunder, a mere mercenary of the commonfolk!"  
  
Ithzhanh was thrown away. With this revelation of his mother, his   
last hopes for taking the reigns of power in Changraloor were   
crushed for good.  
  
"My new husband his a pure demon, make no mistake about this; he   
will father a new child for me, so that I may give birth to the true   
heir to the stormworlds of the tenth sphere!" she proudly announced,   
laughing her head off.  
  
Ithzhanh left without saying another world, his anger obvious to   
all. As he walked down the corridors to his chambers, he murdered   
several servants to vent out his frustration.   
  
"You can come back now, Yuriella." called out Daemonfang to her   
personal tattoo artist. "I can`t wait to feel your needles tickle   
my flesh."  
  
* * *  
  
In the depth of the night, a small team of young girls made their   
way across desert streets along with two young men who fought along   
with them against an army of demons just thirty-six hours before.   
Their mission was one of rescue- to bring back to earth she who   
had been their leader through the worst of times, their friend in   
best of times: the pretty soldier Sailor Moon, lost through a   
portal leading to a horrible outer realm.  
  
Time was running short for them, but they wouldn`t let it stop them.  
  
"Must we really go to the baseball stadium to do this?" asked Sailor   
Jupiter.  
  
"Yes. That`s where the portals were strongest; it`s also where the   
barriers between worlds are weakest, but not for long. We must wedge   
this old portal open and put a `foot` of sorts in the door, so that   
we can open it up from the other side once we find Usagi." explained   
Mercury.  
  
"I`m not about to let my sweet love rot in some demon hole. We`ll   
get her back, I swear." said Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
As they moved discreetly towards their goal, they failed to notice   
the shadow following them. Sailor Saturn wasn`t about to abandon her   
newfound allies.  
  
* * *  
  
"So that`s the situation right now. What are your impressions on the   
power balance in this region of the sphere?" asked Akuma Kamen to   
his guests as he poured them some blood wine.  
  
"Pretty volatile, if you ask me." commented Deddlie Synn. "You have   
a great deal of influence upon the greatest of all political forces,   
Lady Daemonfang. Through her, you can achieve any agenda you   
pursue... although you must find some way to make it match her own   
somehow. You also have a few hidden wildcards, wich gives a nice   
edge.  
  
"You should fear Ithzhanh, however, as his royal overseer position   
ensures him the knightmare legions` loyalty. The kitlings despise   
him thoroughly and agreed to his alliance proposition only in   
respect to his mother... and to the threats he made, so they`ll   
follow you blindly anywhere." added her brother Morthall; he was   
blind since birth, although he had great fun of using words   
relating to blindness every time he could.  
  
He sipped a little wine and continued his analysis: "The kitlings,   
despite their fierce loyalty to you and your wife, are no match   
for the sheer numbers of knightmares, unfortunately."  
  
"The demons are split more or less evenly in this matter." said   
Deddlie. "Each one of them has his or her motives, some may be   
fueled by anger, greed, fear, spite or even some twisted form of   
honor. If a conflict arises between you and maggot boy, I must   
honestly say that your chances are grim."  
  
"What about the two of you, may I ask?" wondered the demon.  
  
"We`re loyal to your wife... and you, by extension. Besides, I   
wouldn`t be caught dead with Ithzhanh." said Deddlie, giving a   
seductive look to Akuma.  
  
"My sense of smell is so keen that the very presence of that maggot   
anywhere in a hundred feet makes me want to vomit. I`m with my   
sister on this." replied Morthall.  
  
"Thank you, friends. I have a bad feeling about our hated overseer,   
and I will need all the help we can get. I would also feel more   
comfortable if you could get a message from me to our friends of   
the Licorne."  
  
"It will be done." said the twins, raising their glasses.  
  
* * *  
  
"What do you mean, only two of us can go there?" protested Sailor   
Mars with energy.  
  
"The nexus has almost reach the lowest point of its waning phase;   
any portal we manage to wedge open will only allow transport for   
three people at most, and we must keep one space open for Usagi   
when we bring her back. Besides, we`ll need all the power we can   
on this side to keep it open while two of us go through." explained   
Mercury.  
  
"I`m going there." said Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
"No you`re not." interjected Mercury. "The nature of your powers   
is such that only you can keep the portal active by sticking your   
`foot` in as I explained earlier. If you go there, you won`t be   
able to reopen the portal from the other side."  
  
"Then I`m going there. That monster Akuma Kamen and I have a score   
to settle." said Sailor Jendra with anger in her voice.  
  
"I`m coming too. You`ll need muscle to fight the demon scum, and   
I`ve toasted more than my share of them." Jupiter added.  
  
"Nothing like experience, huh, Jupiter? Besides, the nature of your   
powers will make it all the more easier to reopen the portal back to   
earth. Even if you hadn`t volunteered so eagerly, I would have   
suggested you to go." commented Mercury.  
  
"I`m glad we can all agree. Let`s do this!" said Jupiter.  
  
* * *  
  
Working carefully not to make mistakes, wich she never made anyway,   
Yuriella applied colors carefully to the new flaming phoenix tattoo   
on Daemonfang`s back. This would truly be her best work yet.  
  
"Not too painfull, I hope?" she asked to the demon lord.  
  
"Just enough, I really enjoy it." she answered. "I`ll have to do   
this again."  
  
A knock came at the door, wich opened to reveal Akuma Kamen. He   
entered and walked up to his wife who was laying on her bed, relaxing   
as she was having a drawing permanently drawn on her back.  
  
"Hello, darling, glad you could drop by. What do you think of it so   
far?" she asked, turning her back so he could see better.  
  
The demon silently approached her and caressed the tattooed flesh.   
Under his fingers, he felt her arteries pulse with each of her   
heartbeats. His hand moved along her exposed weak point, and   
caressed the retractable piece of armored second skin that she had   
pulled away so that Yuriella might work on her more delicate flesh.  
  
A weird look appeared on his face as he contemplated her open   
weakness.  
  
"Well, aren`t you going to say something?" asked Daemonfang.  
  
Seemingly out of nowhere, the male demon pulled a small, intricately   
carved golden dagger which he mercilessly plunged in her back;   
without her second skin pulled down to protect this spot, it sunk   
easily and deeply, provoking a horrible hemorrage that would kill   
her in seconds.  
  
"It`s hideous." he whispered, but the voice wasn`t Akuma`s. It was   
Ithzhanh`s.  
  
As Lady Daemonfang was bleeding to death, the seductive shape of   
Akuma morphed back into its true one, that of the wretched son of   
the she-demon.  
  
"Taking someone else`s appearance for a few moments is rather easy   
to do, I`ll bet you never knew I could do that, did you, mother? As   
long as I don`t talk, no one can tell the difference." he gloated,   
stroking the magical ring on his finger.  
  
"You... ungrateful..." tried to say Daemonfang, but she wouldn`t be   
able to before her life ended.  
  
"This I waited a long time for." he said to himself. Raising his   
gaze from his mother`s corpse to Yuriella`s terrified stare, he   
noticed his work wasn`t all done yet. "No witnesses." he said, as   
he pulled the dagger out of Daemonfang and moved in for another   
kill.   
  
* * *  
  
Alone in the prison block, Usagi waited. For weeks now, she had   
waited for her friends to rescue her from her damp cell, to bring   
her back into the sunlight and return her freedom. She waited,   
losing a little more hope with every passing day.  
  
"They`ll come, I know it. The scouts will be here, and my prince   
will be there..." she repeated, trying harder and harder to   
convince herself, until the point where she just couldn`t believe   
anymore.  
  
The moment Akuma Kamen had waited for was there at last; Usagi broke   
down and cried, realizing that no one would come, that she would   
surely die in this hellhole, alone and forgotten by all.  
  
Totally out of strength and depleted of willpower, she laid down on   
the chilling stone floor, rolling into a foetal position and waiting   
for whatever fate that would befall her. She`d given up fighting.  
  
Slowly falling asleep at bottom of this well of desperation, this was   
the moment when Usagi would receive her greatest revelation yet...  
  
* * *  
  
"Okay, everyone, now!!!" screamed Sailor Mercury to her friends who   
were circling the exact point in the baseball field where   
Daemonfang`s portal cube was located before the scouts blew it up:   
a large scorched circle marked the center field amidst the trampled   
grass. Nearby, some crystal shards of the broken luna pen littered   
the ground, adding a sinister overtone to the stadium.  
  
Using all of their might, the scouts drew forth their energies and   
condensed it into a huge swirling sphere of power. Standing ready,   
the young Kitechnum Jendra began using his Technum powers to   
modulate the raw energy of the scouts and stabilize it into a   
workable portal. Tuxedo Kamen created one of his special roses   
which would be needed after Jendra and Jupiter had gone through.  
  
"Something`s wrong." said Kitechnum. "We don`t have enough power."  
  
The girls gave it all they had, stretching their Technum-based   
powers to the very limit- yet they still needed just a little more   
to do this.  
  
As the seconds grew into minutes, it seemed that they would fail.   
A few seconds away from their breaking point, a flurry of crimson   
color feathers of energy flew out of nowhere straight into the   
energy sphere, giving it the boost that Kitechnum needed; in an   
instant, the chaotic swirling stopped and was replaced by a silver   
shimmer of divine beauty.  
  
With the portal stable, everyone turned around and looked at the   
source of these feathers; of course, it was Sailor Saturn.  
  
"If you plan to use this gate, I suggest you hurry up. It`s`probably   
not that stable." she said in a delicate tone full of grace.  
  
"Oh yeah, we have to go." said Jupiter who grabbed Jendra by the arm   
and dragged her in.  
  
"We`ll bring her back!!!" Jendra barely had time to say before   
disappearing into the outer realm.  
  
After the two scouts went through, Tuxedo Kamen threw his rose into   
the shimmering sphere; once it made its way through the surface, it   
glowed a briliant golden light wich affected the gate instantly. It   
began by shifting colors to gold, then red, blue, green, shifting   
more and more rapidly until the colors couldn`t be told apart from   
one another in a blinding kaleidoscope.  
  
While Kitechnum and Tuxedo Kamen concentrated to contract the portal   
into a microscopic wormhole that the scouts could reopen on the other   
side, the girls stood mesmerized by this superb display of flashing   
colors.  
  
"I`m not feeling too good." thought Saturn, her hands starting to   
shake.  
  
Once the portal had been fully locked and readied for Jupiter and   
Jendra`s return, Sailor Saturn collapsed unconscious on the dead   
grass, her entire body rocked by violent convulsions.  
  
"Dear god, I think she`s having a seizure!" said Sailor Mars as she   
rushed to her help.  
  
* * *  
  
Floating freely in a fall that had no specific direction at all,   
Sailor Jupiter felt nauseous from the total lack of references in   
the void between worlds. "Laurella, where are you?!?" she screamed   
in despair.  
  
"Over here, wherever here is!" replied Jendra who spun   
uncontrollably.  
  
After the initial shock of misdirection, the girls quickly noticed   
that the void was shaping itself into a tunnel of sort, propelling   
them to another swirling mass of colors just like the one they first   
took on earth. The kaleidoscope stopped, leaving them in a place   
which could easily be described by a single word.  
  
HELL.  
  
Lost somewhere on a small plateau located in some remote area of a   
god forsaken mountain range. Jagged and menacingly dark, the spires   
of Changraloor where put into stark contrast to the dreadfully black   
sky by the ever-present lightning strikes of unimaginable strenght.  
  
"Oh god..." whispered Laurella, frozen in awe.  
  
"I`m afraid he can`t hear us here." replied Makoto.  
  
"So where do we look first?" wondered Laurella.  
  
"How about in the opposite direction to these guys?" suggested   
Jupiter, pointing to an incoming squadron of knightmares dressed in   
full silver armor, sending strong vibrations through the mountain   
rock with their flawless stepping coordination. Jendra couldn`t   
agree more.  
  
They took off quickly, although Laurella soon found that she could   
hardly keep up with her athletic friend. She tried to call out to   
her to slow down, but her words were drowned by the screeching   
lightning bolt that landed right between them, destroying a large   
part of the mountain side path; the smashed bits of rock flew all   
over, blinding Jupiter who fell over down into the deep chasm   
underneath.  
  
"JUPITER!!!" screamed Sailor Jendra, helplessly staring down into   
the darkness that had just swallowed the child of thunder.  
  
She just stood there, looking at the chasm and the severed path that   
suddenly denied her escape, until the squadron finally caught up   
with her.  
  
"You, intruder, follow us. Resistance will be met with lethal   
force!" ordered their leader with a thundrous growl. Laurella,   
bereft of hope of helping either Makoto or Usagi, found herself   
empty of any will to fight. She surrendered.  
  
* * *  
  
Falling with the full force of local gravity, Makoto`s head was   
filled with frightful images of her own body being shattered on the   
ground some hundred feet below. She counted her blessings that the   
dark mists shrouded her sight; unable to see anything, she wouldn`t   
have time to see her death arrive.  
  
Jupiter hit the mountainside a few times on her way down- the   
repeated blows dealt by unmoving fists of stone, however, left her   
dizzy and unable to grasp exactly what was happening anymore.  
  
Did the fall take a minute or an hour? She didn`t know. Hell, she   
didn`t even realize how lucky she was that her fall was broken by a   
raging river down the chasm. Her limp body floated a few seconds,   
then sank slowly as it was dragged along the powerful water flow.   
The chilling cold bit her skin and stung her eyes, leaving a bitter   
taste of death in her mouth, the last sensation to hit her before   
she lost conciousness.  
  
This would have undoubtedly been the end of Sailor Jupiter, had she   
not been fished out by a tall, powerful creature which belonged to   
a race tought long extinct by most demons of the tenth sphere.   
  
"What do we have here?" wondered Yorril, a proud warrior of the   
Licorne, a race of humanoid beings whose horselike head, pearled   
fur and strikingly beautiful horn on their foreheads made them look   
like descendants of the fabled unicorns.  
  
Yorril was pleased to find that the human girl was still alive, if   
gravely wounded.  
  
"Her anatomy is similar to that of the great one... I wonder if   
she`s of the same race?" he asked himself.  
  
Strong as three men, he easily picked her up and entered a tunnel   
that led to a underground maze known only to those of the rebellion.   
The soft blue light of the glowing moss covering the tunnels in a   
squishy carpet of sorts guided him without fail through the mountains   
towards his home in a nearby sheltered valley.  
  
* * *  
  
Dancing flashes of light spun around gleefully in a merry-go-round   
of confusion and pain; blue faeries of light and red ones of shadows   
teased Makoto while the color yellow tried to explain her the concept   
of virtual sensations among the jippy trees of chipwillow. Piercing   
through the green clouds and the purple forest, seemingly unreal   
voices could be heard faintly among the chirping of the turquoise   
dhar-dhar birds.  
  
"She`s going to make it, now, she`s very strong." whispered a soft   
feminine voice.  
  
"She truly is everything the great one told us she was." whispered a   
harsher masculine voice.  
  
Holding on to those voices, Makoto focused her every once of strenght   
to snap out of this insane vision.  
  
She woke up slowly, her head beating to the pounding of a hundred   
sledgehammers. There was little light to offend her eyes,   
fortunately, thus giving her a chance to get her bearings back. From   
what she could see, she was lying on a very comfortable pile of   
cushions in an arabian style tent. Although her clothes were gone,   
the thick cloth sheet covering her naked body was more than   
sufficient to give her the warmth she needed to heal. As she rubbed   
her hand on the cloth, she felt patches of her own dried blood   
staining the intricate weaving patterns.  
  
"Don`t move, love, we must make sure my healing magics have   
succeeded." whispered the sweet feminine voice, whose figure   
remained unseen in the dark. "You had many broken bones, tough now   
only the cuts and bruises remain."  
  
"The great one and our leader will be pleased to know you have   
awakened, thundrous one. She`s been worrying about you for over   
three days and nights now." added the male voice.  
  
"Where is this?" said Makoto with great difficulty.  
  
"The tent of the Kitt-Lara healers." answered the female voice.   
Lighting a small oil lamp, a soft red glow revealed the faces of   
Jupiter`s caretakers. They were the catlike faces of two middle-aged   
kitlings.  
  
The face of Makoto grew white with fear, but the catpeople made   
themselves quite reassuring.  
  
"Please do not be alarmed, thundrous one, not all kitlings are   
brutal savages. Only those who suffer from the Changing get to   
become insane killers. They are the ones who turn mercenaries for   
the demon kin, their shapeshifting disease warping them into insane   
killers." explained the female healer.  
  
"Many of us were coerced into attacking your world under threats   
from Ithzhanh; if we didn`t cooperate, he would have had our children   
killed. We hate this carrion eating bastard with every fiber of our   
beings, which is why we fight him alongside the husband of the   
deceased ruler of this land." said the other.  
  
"Deceased? Daemonfang is dead?" said Makoto, blown away by the   
news. It then occured to her who was the demon lord`s husband.   
"Your leader is Akuma Kamen?"  
  
"Indeed we follow this demon, as he alone can bring us back to the   
peaceful life we aspire to." answered the male.  
  
"You mentionned a `great one` several time... who is that?" wondered   
Makoto. Her answer walked in the tent with flawless timing.  
  
"That`s how they call me, although I strongly dislike that sort of   
title." said the familiar voice Makoto was ecstatic to hear.  
  
"USAGI!!!" she screamed as she jumped to her feet, oblivious to pain   
and the fact that she barely kept herself covered in front of the   
kitling healers. She was quite stunned to see how her friend looked.   
"Usagi, have you become... Sailor Moon again?"  
  
Usagi was indeed wearing a uniform of some sort, though not one   
Jupiter had ever seen before. It was a tight fitting blue body suit   
with red flame motives on the legs and arms; her tiara was gone,   
replaced with a pink high-tech lens. The old elbow-long white gloves   
were gone too. Instead she wore black leather gloves, as well as   
metallic hand and forearm protectors, plus matching metal shinguards.   
Completing this picture, five golden kanji were inscribed along her   
right tigh reading BISHOUJO SENSHI, pretty soldier.  
  
"I`ll explain you, its a long story..." she said.  
  
Sailor Moon proceeded to tell her about her long ordeal in the   
Changraloor dungeons, slowly sinking in despair until her hope was   
totally gone. She continued to tell her friend about the glimmer   
of light in her mind that changed everything.  
  
"It was a revelation, plain and simple. It struck me that my father,   
Technazul Terra, had been trying to tell me something through my   
dreams, something I didn`t get until then: the transformation pens   
Luna gave us are nothing but crutches, ways of focusing the power   
that`s ALREADY IN OUR SOUL!" she said.  
  
"Soul power?" said Makoto, puzzled.  
  
"That`s what Technazul meant! I would never be a sailor SCOUT again,   
because I was meant to become a sailor SENSHI, a warrior of even   
greater strenght and power!!!" explained Sailor Moon. "In time, so   
will you, my friend." she added with a smile.  
  
"That`s great, but... I`m not quite there yet. I`ll stick to my   
transformation pen for the time being until I get a revelation of   
my own." said Makoto. She then remembered she was naked under the   
bedsheet she barely held around her body. "Some clothes would be   
nice, right about now. Damn, I hope Laurella didn`t get all bruised   
up the way I did getting here." she said, contemplating the many   
bruises all over her skin.  
  
"Laurella came with you to the tenth sphere?!?" asked Usagi, a   
horrified look appearing on her face.  
  
"You mean she`s not here?!?" replied Makoto with an equally   
horrified expression.  
  
* * *  
  
What a strange experience this had all been. Now that Laurella   
thought it over, it seemed almost like a faraway dream. First   
floating through the void between universes like a fish in stormy   
waters, then landing in this lightning ravaged world. It wouldn`t   
have been so bad if it hadn`t been for happened afterwards.  
  
The knightmare patrol, she could have dealt with. Of course she had   
to run, with her being hideously outnumbered and all, but the sudden   
lightning bolt that cut her road of retreat and threw Sailor Jupiter   
in the dark chasm below was simply too much for her.  
  
She was forced to surrender and taken to a huge, monstrous looking   
fortress where she`d been kept since.  
  
Three days had passed already, but not quite in the way she had   
initially suspected: instead of the cold, damp cell she expected,   
she was given a very comfortable, quite luxurious bedroom. The   
meals were nothing short of royal and the library was open to her   
so she could keep herself busy.  
  
Of course, the strange glyphs that were used as a written language   
in this world was utterly unreadable to her, even tough she was   
skilled in japanese, english and chinese. This was just too   
different to be picked up casually without a translator`s help.   
This did not stop her, however, from enjoying the remarkably   
detailed images, all of which were individually hand-made. In this   
world, printing presses were considered distasteful while manuscript  
writing was an art form.  
  
Laurella had spent the entire evening skimming through what looked   
like historical accounts of a war of some sort, one in which was   
told of the forging of a weapon she immediately recognized: the one   
weapon strong enough to have killed Sailor Moon, the chains of   
Mephistofeles. With a shudder, she closed the book and placed it   
right back on one of the library`s many shelves. A smaller, more   
discreet book grabbed her attention; it seemed out of place somehow,   
intriguing yet trying to avoid drawing attention to itself.  
  
"This one doesn`t belong there, obviously. I wonder what it`s doing   
there..." she wondered, looking at the leather bound volume marked   
in unreadable characters.  
  
She opened it at a random page, going back and forth from there.   
She quickly realized why this book had been so well hidden when she   
stumbled on a well illustrated section which went at great lenghts   
to illustrate a variety of sexual techniques for the demon kin.  
  
Laurella felt a bit guilty about watching these beautiful images,   
yet couldn`t tear her eyes away, turning page after page and   
starting to feel aroused by the detailed pictures. She then caught   
movement in the corner of her eyes. Turning around to see who was   
there, she clumsily hid the book behind her back.  
  
The most seductive demon she`d ever seen was leaning on the bookshelf   
behind her, slowly stroking the slick, deep black membrane of his   
perfectly proportioned wings. His deep blue eyes were staring   
straight into hers, preventing Laurella from looking at his athletic   
body, or at anything else for that matter.  
  
"Oh, Ithzhanh, it`s you... how long have you been there?" she asked,   
blushing.  
  
"Twenty pages, more or less. I was hoping you`d find that book, it`s   
one of my favorites." said Ithzhanh, his voice entrancing the young   
scout with every word.  
  
"I was just waiting here, killing time... I`m still hoping you`ll be   
able to find her." said Laurella, her eyes full of hope.  
  
"The news is bad, I`m afraid... my troops found her body an hour   
ago... I`m sorry to say that she didn`t survive the fall." lied the   
handsome demon with sadness in his eyes.  
  
Laurella choked up, trying to hold back her sorrow, but couldn`t   
keep it up. She sobbed for a while, finding some measure of comfort   
in the arms of Ithzhanh.  
  
"This portal you told me about... I know your friend Jupiter was   
supposed to open it for you, am I right? I`m verry sorry that your   
quest to find Sailor Moon failed, but there was nothing I could do   
to stop my mother from executing her... maybe I could at least help   
you go home, would you like that?" he asked. Sailor Jendra nodded   
silently, averting her teary eyes from Ithzhanh`s gaze.  
  
"Don`t worry about it. The royal mage has great knowledge of gates   
and portals, he`ll be able to reopen it for you tomorrow and lead   
you home again. Now go get some rest, dear child." he said.  
  
Laurella whispered "Thank you" and went back to her room, grateful   
that she met this sweet demon first, rather than that horrible   
monster Akuma Kamen. After she left, Ithzhanh reverted back to his   
original, twisted form of a hunched over, slimy, putrid little demon.   
His skin was covered all over from second and third degree burn   
scars, warping his sickening appearance even further. Even by tenth   
sphere standards, he was truly an abomination.  
  
"I thought she`d NEVER stop crying. My morphing ring almost ran out   
of charge!" he complained to a figure that came out of hiding from   
the shadows.  
  
"If you`d given me more time to forge the ring in the first place,   
it would hold a longer charge, may I remind you." replied sharply   
the figure who revealed itself as Traxis, Changraloor`s royal mage.  
  
"I may not care about the methods you use to craft your items, but   
I do care about the timetable you apply, mage. I`m running out of   
time to exact my revenge upon this damned city we couldn`t   
invade!!!" screamed the foul beast.  
  
"Have I failed you before? I have the item you requested." said   
Traxis, handing over a small silver and gold ring shaped as a mobius   
band.  
  
"What is it with him and rings?" wondered the demon. Looking back   
and forth between the humanoid mage and the ring he`d been given, he   
wasn`t sure how to react. "How is this supposed to achieve my goal?"   
he asked.  
  
"It is made of the most powerful blend of blast metals..." started   
Traxis who was rudely interrupted.  
  
"BLAST METAL?!? I want to LEVEL THE WHOLE CITY, not just a block or   
two!!!" yelled the monster even louder.  
  
"You don`t understand, mylord, blast metals, should they interract   
with in-between void energies, will build up in power until they   
detonate violently. The following shockwave will then echo in the   
void, growing exponentially in mere seconds- when the gate opens on   
the other side, the energy shockwave will then be so strong that   
nothing will be left existing in a hundred miles radius!!!"   
explained the mage. "Now if you`ll excuse me, I have an experiment   
to attend to."  
  
Traxis disliked Ithzhanh with every fiber of his being, but had no   
choice but to go along with him as the twisted overseer had seized   
the reigns of powers in the outer realm following Daemonfang`s death.   
At least, he`d get a chance to avenge the memory of his dead father   
by destroying the city where lived those who had shattered the portal   
cubes. His father had worked his entire life to create these cubes,   
and it would take traxis his entire life to recreate them, assuming   
he`d live that old.  
  
* * *  
  
Having retrieved her transformation pen back from Usagi`s care,   
Makoto was quick to summon her Sailor Jupiter outfit to cover   
herself. In contrast to Usagi`s new look, her old sailor uniform felt   
silly somehow. She truly wished she could achieve Sailor Moon`s new   
level of power.  
  
"I can guess what you`re thinking." said Sailor Moon. "You want to   
become a senshi as well, don`t you?"  
  
Makoto nodded in silent agreement.  
  
"You`ll have to find it within yourself to give up your old image   
of the scout, to find the strenght to give up your old self image   
of a scout... your soul holds the key, my friend, but it is deep."   
she said sternly. She then smiled and added that she knew without   
a doubt that the senshi of Jupiter would surely emerge soon.  
  
"So what do we do now? I`ll bet that the knightmare patrol captured   
Laurella, her life is in danger!" asked Sailor Jupiter.  
  
"We rescue her, that`s what." answered a growling voice in the tent`s   
entrance. Stepping with slow, deliberate steps, he walked over to   
Sailor moon and handed her an old, cracked parchment scroll. "A map   
of the many byways we can take to enter the fortress without drawing   
too much attention. With the mustered troops we have right now, we   
could storm the stronghold with minimized losses."  
  
"What do you mean by `minimized`?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"We won`t ALL be killed in the assault." he replied.  
  
"Are your loyal followers really intent on engaging a suicide raid to   
deliver a single prisoner, even if she is our friend?!?" asked   
Jupiter, unwilling to endanger any lives other than her own.  
  
"It`s not only to deliver Sailor Jendra, thundrous one. It`s also to   
wrest power out of the carrion stained hands of that unworthy maggot   
Ithzhanh." answered Akuma.  
  
"If we can be delivered of this mad demon ruler, any sacrifice is   
worth the prize we seek." added the female kitling who cuddled her   
male partner. "We wish this land to be one of peace where we can   
raise our young without fear."  
  
The human girls were touched by the kindness of the catpeople, as no   
one would imagine them to be so caring after facing them in combat.  
  
"Get some rest while we can, ladies, we strike in three hours." said   
Akuma, leaving the young warriors to some all too short sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
A knock at the door woke up Laurella who stumbled through the   
bedroom`s darkness; when she opened the door, she came face to face   
with a demon servant. Altough he could have been considered quite   
attractive by demon standards, he was more than scary enough to give   
Laurella the chills.  
  
"A gift from my master, Lord Ithzhanh." he said, handing her a small   
box made of a material not quite unlike velvet. The young girl   
opened it to find a beautiful ring shaped as a mobius band.  
  
"It`s beautiful." she said, slipping it on her finger.  
  
"My master regrets not being able to give it in person as he is   
occupied with pressing matters." explained the servant.  
  
"Give my heartfelt thanks to your lord, I hope to see him again   
before I leave tomorrow." she said and went back to bed.  
  
The demon left the master bedrooms area and met with the   
disgustingly ugly Ithzhanh in his tactical room three levels   
below.  
  
"She accepted the gift, master." he explained.  
  
"You served me well, you may leave now." said the twisted monster.  
  
It`s all falling into place, now, he thought. Tomorrow at this time   
Tokyo would be nothing more than a fleeting memory washed away in   
fiery oblivion.  
  
* * *  
  
"I can`t wait until this is over..." thought Usagi as she walked   
along a tight, drenched corridor filled with those weird glowing   
mosses that seemed to grow in every cavern of the tenth sphere.   
"I`ve had just about enough of those tunnels!"  
  
At long last, the tunnel lead to a dead-end, a large chunk of rock   
that had been polished to perfection by professional rock carvers   
centuries before. This secret passage, few people knew about   
outside of the rulers of Changraloor. Not even Ithzhanh had ever   
been told.  
  
"Of all the passages in the fortress, this one leads closest to   
the masters` bedrooms." explained Akuma Kamen to Sailor Moon and   
Jupiter.  
  
"Why here and not the dungeons? I`ve been trapped in there, and   
that`s the best place to hold her, believe me. No way will any other   
room hold her up, trust me. The girl`s a hurricane just waiting to   
happen." said Sailor Moon.  
  
"I have spies in there. Ithzhanh`s been spoon-feeding her lies since   
his patrol picked her up three days ago, and I don`t think he`s been   
giving her the royal treatment out of the kindness of his heart.   
We`ll have to move fast once we`re in there, we don`t know how maggot   
boy will react to the little get-together I threw with my Licorne   
friends..." said Akuma. As if on cue, a huge explosion in the   
distance echoed through the bedrock and shook the ground under the   
trio`s feet. "Ah, that would be them now."  
  
* * *  
  
At the front gate as well as every other entrance to the fortress,   
huge dark metal cannons were spitting balls of fire at the walls,   
chipping huge holes in the defenses of the Changraloor capital.   
Guards ran wildly as they just couldn`t understand how half the   
invading forces were composed of warriors from an extinct race, or   
how some of them made their way inside the fortress BEFORE they even   
got the front gates open.  
  
Knightmares reinforced the demons in the key strategic battle points   
with deadly results; on both sides casualties increased at an   
alarming rate as the Licorne locked swords with the knightmares   
while kitlings went claw to claw against the demons.  
  
Needless to say, Ithzhanh was not pleased.  
  
"I knew I should have killed that troublemaker Akuma earlier. When   
you make stupid mistakes, they always come back to haunt you later."   
he told himself, as the rumbling in the floors shook his dinner table   
and spilled his bloodwine cup. His food plate soon joined his drink   
on the floor, although the raw piece of rotten meat was not in the   
least way made any more unedible from the dirt it picked up.  
  
"Where my ice whip?"  
  
* * *  
  
"So, how do we open this door, anyway? It looks sealed pretty tight."   
asked Jupiter, trying to slip her fingers in between the wall and   
the secret door, to no avail, as the rock surfaces were fitted to   
perfection. "Let`s face it, this door isn`t going to just open   
itself."  
  
"Leave that to me." said Sailor Moon, her eyes gleaming with pride.   
"And stand back- way back!!!"  
  
The demon and the scout retreated down the corridor, but not too far   
so that they could see what she was going to do.  
  
"LUNAR..."  
  
Concentrating on the power within, Sailor Moon summoned the strenght   
of her ancient soul inside the palm of her hands into a swirling mass   
of silver plasma; as the seemingly endless seconds drifted by, the   
energy grew more and more intense, saturating the tunnel with the   
pure light of her soul.  
  
"SOUL..."  
  
Pointing her hands towards the stone obstacle, she released the   
immeasurable amount of energy in a single directed blast which would   
pulverize the rock obstacle into choking dust.  
  
"POWER!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
He thought he had heard voices coming from the corridor; although it   
was deserted at this time of night, it seemed someone was there.   
That was the reason why the silver knightmare had left his post   
guarding the bedroom of royal mage Traxis to go down the apparently   
empty corridors. The attack on the fortress was no business of his,   
but his duties dictated that he should capture and execute any   
intruders snooping around the mage`s room.  
  
No one was there. Wait a minute, there was a murmur coming from   
behind the wall. BEHIND the wall? Wasn`t it supposed to be sheer   
bedrock in there?!?  
  
His highly trained senses picked up more murmurs, although he could   
make out some words now that he was closer to the source. He believed   
that he heard something like "soul power", but he couldn`t hear any   
more, seeing how he was too busy getting blown to pieces along with   
a five feet wide section of the wall he was standing next to.  
  
When the dust settled, Sailor Moon emerged triumphant.  
  
"Come on, let`s score us an ugly demon!" said Akuma as he followed.  
  
"And rescue Laurella, unless you forgot..." added Jupiter.  
  
"Of course, of course, we`ll do that too." he replied.  
  
Makoto just couldn`t bring herself to trust that demon look-alike of   
Mamoru. Try as she might, she just couldn`t get over that uncanny   
ressemblance.  
  
* * *  
  
The serie of small explosions, she might have overlooked. After all,   
she was sleeping rather soundly from her very tiring experiences of   
the past five or six days. The BIG detonation that riped apart a   
nearby corridor, however, could have woken up the dead.   
  
Laurella sat in her bed, rubbing her tear swollen eyes to shake away   
the sleepy haze she felt.  
  
Explosions? Screams and battle cries? For sure it was the terrorists   
Ithzhanh had warned her about the day before.  
  
"Wait a minute, if the rebels are here, than their leader... Akuma   
Kamen... will be there too!" she said to herself.  
  
For the first time in a long while, she smiled. If she couldn`t find   
her friends in this hellhole called the tenth sphere, then she`d   
settle for revenge against the monster who`d tried to kill her.  
  
* * *  
  
Lightning bolts and soul blasts tore through the rows of knightmares   
that rushed down from the upper levels, but the three intruders held   
on. As one after another fell down, there soon remained only the   
demon and his human allies.  
  
"There would have been much more of these knightmares if they weren`t   
busy fighting off kitlings and Licorne invaders." observed Akuma.  
  
A sudden blast of dark purple energy then struck the demon who was   
thrown back several feet, landing brutally on a pile of scorched   
armor plates.  
  
"I never cared much for these lesser servants myself, I must agree."   
commented a shadowy figure exiting a nearby room. Traxis`s hands were   
still charged with residual energy of the powerful force bolt he   
just cast.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Sailor Moon, trying to buy her ally some time   
to recover.  
  
"I, my young friend, am Traxis, royal mage of the Changraloor   
court... I shall also be your bane, as I will now demonstrate."   
he answered, preparing another bolt. This one narrowly missed   
the girls, dogging a huge wall in the wall behind them.  
  
"Go find Laurella, Akuma, you know the place better than us!!!"   
yelled Sailor Moon as she prepared a blast of her own. "We`ll hold   
him off!"  
  
Picking himself up, Akuma silently agreed; as he turned his back on   
the fight and ran away from the battle, he screamed to Sailor Moon   
that he`d find her. She never heard him as his voice was drowned out   
by the lightning strike of Sailor Jupiter.  
  
Fighting the royal mage would not be easy for the two young   
warriors.  
  
* * *  
  
"Sailor Jendra!!!" screamed Akuma as he ran from room to room,   
finding no one but a few scared servants.  
  
After almost ten minutes, however, he turned a corner where he met   
her; it had been nearly three months for Akuma Kamen since he tried   
to kill her in that rainy Tokyo street, but she looked identical to   
what her remembered of her.  
  
"So you did come for me." she said, with open contempt.  
  
"You`re in danger here, I came to rescue you! Sailor Moon and   
Jupiter are here too!" he said, approaching her with his hand   
extended.  
  
She backed down nervously, refusing to be even remotely close to   
him.  
  
"I know you`re lying, they`re dead! Are you here to try and kill me   
again, you bastard?" she asked, with fire in her eyes.  
  
Akuma remembered what Jupiter has told him about time compression   
and how time went by faster on his side of the portal; he figured   
that she was probably still pissed off about his beating her up.   
This wouldn`t be easy to explain.  
  
He didn`t get another chance to speak, however. A stinging pain in   
his back sent him to the floor, the icy bite of a cold whip creating   
horrible pain in his spine. Ithzhanh had managed to sneak up behind   
him and lash him with all his might.  
  
"Still enjoying... the cheap shots... are you?" managed to utter   
Akuma, writhing in pain.  
  
"See that, Jendra? Didn`t I warn you about his evil kind? He wants   
nothing but to bring misery to those around him!" said the demon   
usurper of the Changraloor throne, using his illusionary beauty to   
further trick the young scout.  
  
"He`s lying to you, Sailor Jendra, he doesn`t even look like..."   
tried to say Akuma who was brutally interrupted by another ice   
cold lash.  
  
"SHUT UP!" ordered Ithzhanh. "Don`t listen to his lies!"  
  
* * *  
  
"Not very impressive, sailor girls." said Traxis, taking a few   
seconds to gloat to his opponents. "Is that all you can do?"  
  
Both Sailor Moon and Jupiter had taken quite a beating, and so had   
the surrounding structure of the fortress. The many smashed walls   
had opened up a large fighting area riddled with rubble and dead   
knightmares. Breathing hard and barely holding on their legs, the   
brave warriors were bleeding from the many gashes covering their   
bodies. Jupiter barely stood up, but Sailor Moon was still fighting   
on with everything she had. Clearly, she was much stronger than she   
ever had been before.  
  
"I still have one more trick up my sleeve!" said Sailor Moon   
defiantly; she summoned more of her soul energy, but shaped it into   
a cylinder rather than a sphere. "By the power of all things   
eternal, I summon thee, great sword Avenger!!!" she yelled as the   
energy materialized into a crystal two-handed sword of radiant   
beauty.   
  
"Your toys can`t help you now, girl." taunted Traxis as his hands   
charged with power for the strongest spell he could think of-   
disintegration.  
  
With a mighty scream, he unleashed the red waves of power towards   
Sailor Moon; Using her crystal sword, she intercepted the energy   
and reflected it back to the mage. In an instant, he was scorched   
into little more than ashes.  
  
"That`s... amazing!" said Jupiter.  
  
"One of the many things you`ll learn to do!" said Sailor Moon.   
"Come on, let`s catch up to Akuma."  
  
* * *  
  
It was no use. Sailor Jendra just wasn`t listening to what he had to   
say... and why should she? She was still ticked off for that battle   
they fought, and she was clearly under the influence of Ithzhanh,   
who looked much more attractive than he ever had. "He`s using   
morphing magic, that`s for sure." thought Akuma.  
  
"Surrender now, and your death will be painless... mostly."   
commanded Ithzhanh, getting ready to lash Akuma again.  
  
"Don`t give him a chance to get back up!" encouraged Laurella,   
fighting off the fear of Akuma that was twisting her stomach.  
  
So Ithzhanh struck again, and again, inflicting more and more icy   
stings to Akuma who grew weaker still. He had to find something to   
convince her, but what? The demon painstakingly searched his memory   
for anything that Sailor Moon might have told him that he could   
use...  
  
"Jendra, Sailor Moon really is alive... she told me... about you..."   
he said with difficulty. Another lash was Ithzhanh`s response, though   
that did not stop him from completing his phrase. "...your boyfriend,   
Kitechnum Jendra... he`s Sailor Moon`s BROTHER!"  
  
"Shut up!!!" ordered Ithzhanh. He prepared himself to strike again,   
although Jendra wasn`t convinced that he was her ally anymore.  
  
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!!!" yelled Laurella; a beam made of a   
thousand tiny bubbles of multicolored light surged from her hands,   
hitting Ithzhanh squarely in the chest.   
  
Residual energies from her blast built up in Ithzhanh`s ring,   
interfering with the magic at work. As the morph ring shut itself   
down, the usurper`s true appearance resurfaced to Jendra`s horrified   
eyes.  
  
"You`ll pay for that, bitch." he whispered. He lashed his whip at   
the sailor scout, catching hold of her arm. Laurella let out a   
scream of pain as the infernal cold of the beast`s weapon burned   
her forearm.  
  
"PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!!!" she said, as seven rainbow colored   
sharp rings formed around her hands. They turned into seven deadly   
boomerang wich she threw at the foul monster. One of them managed   
to cut the whip, the others missed Ithzhanh by little more than an   
inch or two.  
  
"Your days are numbered, maggot!" said Akuma, as he slowly got back   
on his feet.  
  
Seeing he would be weaponless AND outnumbered, Ithzhanh decided to   
flee... but not before exacting his wrath upon his enemies. "You`ll   
both die here." he said, snapping his fingers and bolting out of the   
room. The ring he had given to Sailor Jendra began to glow and throb   
on her finger.  
  
"What`s going on? Why is this ring glowing?" asked Laurella, her   
heartrate increasing sharply as her nerves did a sudden panic danse.  
  
"Because it`s going to blow up, it`s made of blast metal! Quickly get   
rid of it!!!" urged Akuma as he recognized the metal used to make   
the band on her finger.  
  
She tried to pull it off, but it resisted. She pulled even more, only   
to find out it was stuck beyond hope. She couldn`t make it budge an   
inch.  
  
"I think I have a problem..." she whispered, staring at the ring   
throbing with an increasing frequency.  
  
* * *  
  
Ithzhanh ran down the corridors with all the speed he could muster;   
he had to clear the blast zone when the ring would go off! He kept   
on running until he bumped into none other than Sailor Moon -both   
him and the two warrior girls froze a second in surprise- but the   
beast reacted quicker, slashing them with his claws in a furious   
rage. He inflicted many wounds to both girls who fell down bleeding   
seriously.  
  
Sailor Moon`s arm having taken a really bad cut, she dropped Avenger   
down; Ithzhanh kicked it away far behind him. If she wanted the   
weapon back, she`d have to go through HIM.  
  
"So you came to me to die, have you? You save me the trouble of   
hunting you down like the dog you are." said Ithzhanh menacingly,   
licking his claws to taste their blood. He thought he was looking   
powerful and frightning, but Sailor Moon only laughed. Jupiter and   
the beast both wondered why.  
  
"What`s so funny?" asked the demon. "Tell me!"  
  
"I just remembered the wisdom of Sun Tzu. 'Know your enemy and know   
yourself'. Obviously you don`t know me as well as you think." she   
explained, looking behind Ithzhanh at her sword some twenty feet   
away.  
  
"I know all I need to know." he replied, moving in for the kill.  
  
"Wrong." said Sailor Moon. She lifted her right hand, pointing to   
her crystal sword. "Avenger, return." she whispered.  
  
In response to the command of the pretty soldier, Avenger lifted   
itself into the air, flying back swiftly to Sailor Moon`s hand in a   
flash of radiant light... and struck in the back Ithzhanh who was   
standing in the way, going right through his black heart. He tried   
to utter a threat, watching the tip of the sword sticking out of his   
chest while his thick dark blood trickled along his body and legs,   
though he was now incapable to speak. His lifeless body fell to the   
floor, putting an end to the longest ruling dynasty of Changraloor.  
  
"If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the   
outcome of a hundred battles." quoted Sailor Moon as she helped her   
friend back to her feet.  
  
For some unexplained reason, the death of Ithzhanh negatively   
affected the demon and knightmare troops that were loyal to him. At   
that very moment, the Licorne and kitlings breached through the last   
line of defense, taking over the fortress. The reign of darkness   
would soon be nothing more than a memory for the tenth sphere.  
  
* * *  
  
"I can`t get it off!!!" said Sailor Jendra in a panic. Try as she   
might, the mobius band was getting ready to destroy her any second   
now.  
  
Akuma Kamen acted quickly at this point, picking up a large butcher`s   
knife on a nearby table. He grabbed Jendra`s wrist with his other   
hand and stared straight into her eyes. "Do you trust me now?" he   
asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" she replied.  
  
"I asked you if you trust me! Do you?!?"  
  
"Well... I guess so..." she answered with a smidgen of hesitation.  
  
"Close your eyes. This won`t hurt." he ordered Laurella, placing her   
hand on the table and holding it strongly in place.  
  
Laurella was terrified, but the idea of that ring exploding scared   
her even more. She shut her eyes, trembling as she heard Akuma lift   
the knife and swing it down with all his strenght. One metallic   
clinging sound later, she reopened her eyes.  
  
Jendra was relieved to see that she was missing none of her fingers,   
the swift blow having cleanly severed the ring without as much as   
grazing her skin. Akuma removed the fractured ring off her hand and   
threw it out the window; a few seconds later, a huge explosion   
rocked the fortress.  
  
"Thank you, Akuma... I owe you my life." said Jendra, catching her   
breath and calming down slowly.  
  
"Consider it reparation for my trying to kill you back during my   
wife`s attempt to take over your city." said Akuma with a smile.   
"Come with me, your friends can`t wait to see you again."  
  
"Before we go, there`s something I must do." said Laurella. She   
struck him in the groin with her knee as hard as she could, sending   
the demon wretching on the floor. "NOW we`re even." she said,   
heading back to meet with her friends.  
  
* * *  
  
Four figures walked along a deserted mountain path, heading towards   
their respective destiny. Akuma Kamen and the three human warriors   
whose intervention in the demonic civil war had shifted the balance   
of power.  
  
"Okay, let`s do this..." said Jupiter, standing right where she   
initially arrived to the tenth sphere with Jendra. "JUPITER THUNDER   
CRASH!!!"  
  
The Technum based lightning of Sailor Jupiter struck an invisible   
obstacle located in the middle of the mountain path; a shimmering   
sphere of silver energy formed itself, though it looked much more   
unstable now, and degrading quite rapidly.  
  
"We must hurry, it can`t last very long now." said Jupiter.   
"Goodbye, Akuma, I know you and your people will make a better life   
for themselves now that you lead them."  
  
"I owe it all to you and your friends, thundrous one. May the hands   
of fate be kind to you." he said.  
  
Jupiter entered the shimmering portal and vanished.  
  
"Thanks for stopping Ithzhanh from having me destroy Tokyo. I`ll   
never forget you, you know." said Sailor Jendra.  
  
"I`ll always remember you as well, young warrior. You have great   
strenght inside you, use it well." said the demon.  
  
Jendra gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and jumped in the portal.   
She vanished as well.  
  
"Well, that only leaves the two of us." said Sailor Moon. "Fighting   
in the rebellion by your side, that was quite an experience."  
  
"Yes, it was. Before you leave, there`s something I wish to ask you.   
Please consider what we`ve built together, what we could do in the   
future." said Akuma.  
  
"Are you asking me what I think you are?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"Yes. Please stay here with me, become my wife." he said, putting   
his arms around her waist and pulling her in a tender hug. "Won`t   
you remain here?"  
  
Usagi hesitated, so Akuma kissed her with the passion that only   
Mamoru could have had. Mamoru, her sweet prince... what was she   
doing? She pulled herself away, unable to betray the trust her   
fiancee had placed in her.  
  
"I`m sorry, I can`t stay here. My prince is waiting for me on   
earth... I`m really sorry." she finally answered, a tear running   
down from her eye.  
  
"I... I understand. You were destined to be with him, I won`t stand   
in your way." said the demon with sorrow in his eyes.  
  
"Don`t despair, Akuma, I can still do one thing to ensure you`ll be   
happy..." replied Sailor Moon, a warm smile brightening her face.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Mars held on to Sailor Saturn during her seizure, making sure   
she wouldn`t hurt herself while she was losing control of her body.   
After a few moments, the convulsions stopped and she regained   
consciousness.  
  
"What... happened... to me?" asked Saturn.  
  
"You had a seizure." answered Tuxedo Kamen.  
  
"You should consult a doctor, you know, epilepsy can be treated   
quite effectively." suggested Sailor Mercury.  
  
"Yeah, I know a really great doctor, I`ll have a talk with him."   
replied Saturn.  
  
A sudden flash of silver light blinded everyone- when the light   
faded away, Sailor Moon, Jendra and Jupiter were standing proudly   
in the middle of the charred grass patch where the now collapsed   
portal had been.  
  
"Sailor Moon, you`re back!" yelled Tuxedo Kamen, taking the senshi   
in his arms and lifting her in the air, spinning her around in joy.   
"And you look so... great!"  
  
"That`s soul power, I`ve seen it in action!" said Jupiter.  
  
"Congratulations, Sailor Jupiter and Jendra, you succeeded in your   
mission!" added the young Kitechnum Jendra, smiling sweetly to his   
sweetheart Laurella.  
  
"Barely ten minutes have ellapsed on this side since you`ve left to   
find Sailor Moon. It`s a good thing you came back soon enough, the   
nexus has collapsed between our world and the tenth sphere for at   
least a few decades." explained Ami.  
  
Hugging her dear Tuxedo Kamen, Usagi was finally hit by the fact   
that no more demons would ever come from the tenth sphere to haunt   
her life. This was a sensation of finding the freedom she`d lost   
months ago. "Say, now that this is all said and done, maybe we can   
have a chat with you, Sailor Saturn..." she said.  
  
Too late. While the scouts were having their little reunion, Saturn   
had silently split.  
  
"I just know we`ll see her again soon." commented Venus.  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
Working late over his many tomes of magic, Akuma Kamen took a few   
moments to relax and remember that special girl who had not only   
changed his life, but put in motion the events that had brought his   
own creation: Sailor Moon. It had been over a year since she`d left   
his realm through the gate, and her influence was still being felt   
all over the tenth sphere.  
  
The 'Great One', as the kitlings called her, was remembered warmly   
by his people and even more so by Akuma. She had given him the only   
thing that he ever could have wished for.  
  
He picked up a small crystal ball resting delicately on his work   
desk among the many talismans of his art and watched the golden   
glint within as he held it in the oil lamp light. The crystal not   
only protected her gift, it also made it look very good on the   
small wooden display.  
  
"What are you doing, darling?" asked a sweet feminine voice behind   
him.  
  
"Just taking a peep at Sailor Moon`s last gift." he answered as he   
turned around to take a long look at his lover, a seductive female   
demon whose traits were identical in every way to Usagi`s. Tsukino   
Oniko, as he had named her, was indeed everything he could have   
wanted in a mate. He loved her with every fiber of his being.  
  
She had been born six months before from the combinaison of Akuma`s   
talent for magic and a single blonde hair of Sailor Moon.  
  
  
The End  



	17. Looming Shadows

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
  
I am become Gallagher.  
  
You may think me strange  
Or believe me insane,  
All at once I am both and neither  
For I am become Gallagher.  
  
Ever forward I go  
Towards the horizon  
Where the earth touches heaven  
For I am become Gallagher.  
  
Power flows in my body,  
Beats in my heart, pounds my brain  
And surges through my veins  
For I am become Gallagher.  
  
Magic, science and faith,  
All in one, one in all.  
A single source of the eternal now mine,  
For I am become Gallagher.  
  
Wherever lightning strikes  
And volcanoes violently erupts,   
You shall find ny essence  
For I am become Gallagher.  
  
Real, unreal and surreal,  
Nothing is impossible anymore  
For one who found true power  
For I am become Gallagher.  
  
The universe now seems smaller  
And everything is clearer.  
Nothing will ever be the same  
For reality has become mine to shape.  
  
I am become Gallagher.  
  
  
- "Becoming Gallagher ", author unknown. For now.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 17  
  
LOOMING SHADOWS  
  
  
The wind blew a flurry of deep orange leaves over the asphalt street   
of a sleeping district of Tokyo. Under a waning moon surrounded by   
thousands of flickering stars, a lone man walked, his destination   
unclear to any who might have crossed his path.  
  
His worn down hard leather boots crackled with each step he took,   
this dry sound being strangely appropriate in fitting with the   
clinking metal noise from the empty sword sheath hanging from his   
belt hitting over and over his floating black cape. His basic black   
clothes and hood look made him somewhat of an oddity in this   
relatively ordinary city, although most citizens where much too   
wrapped up in their dreary lives to even notice anymore.  
  
That's how the Rosecross ritual he'd cast upon himself worked;   
anybody not looking specifically for him would just ignore him, as   
if he were invisible. Such an effect was quite effective for his   
needs and much easier to generate than actual invisibility.  
  
As he walked down the desert street, he took a moment to stop at   
the front gate of a Shinto temple.  
  
* * *  
  
"Thanks for being there for me, Makoto." said Rei to her friend.  
  
"Hey, You know I`d do anything for you, even if it's only stand by   
your side." replied Makoto. "So, what were your first clues?"  
  
"Textbook case, really." said Rei. "Hunger, weird cravings,   
nauseous in the morning... plus I haven't had my period in over   
two months."  
  
"Yikes! All you need from this is a confirmation, then..." said   
Makoto, looking at the small pregnancy test as it started changing   
color.  
  
Rei picked up the stick. It was rapidly turning dark blue.  
  
"Oh my god..." Rei whispered. She began sobbing silently. "What am I   
going to do now? I'm not ready for this!"  
  
Makoto held her in her arms, saying nothing. For all her good   
intentions, there was simply nothing to say that could help her.   
They remained silent like this for long hours, Makoto bringing   
support to her crying friend.  
  
* * *  
  
Making his way through the sleeping city, the cloaked man passed by   
a huge hospital where all but a few rooms were dark. The night shift   
was setting itself into place for another hard night's work while   
the patients rested more or less comfortably depending on their   
respective health condition. Being closely acquainted with medicine,   
the stranger had a warm thought for the patients and the doctors   
who dedicated their lives to helping them.  
  
* * *  
  
Taking her time to make sure her patient was well prepared for the   
night, nurse Rumiko carefully tucked the bedsheets for the young man   
who suffered a terrible car accident the month before.  
  
"Everyone hopes you will wake up soon, Nathan. Your family misses   
you." she said. She then turned off the light and left the room.  
  
As she moved down the corridor, she heard someone enter the comatose   
patient's room. She couldn't see through the darkness of the unlit   
corridor, but she clearly saw a large form moving in the room.   
Running right back to expel this sneaky intruder, she heard him   
whispering something about "this one still having a soul". When she   
turned on the light in the room, the bulky dark humanoid shape was   
gone. Nothing.  
  
She just couldn't understand.  
  
While the nurse was standing dazed and confused next to the comatose   
young man, the dark shape moved down the dark corridors, unseen and   
unheard.  
  
"I will soon walk again, it is as certain as all life must die." it  
mumbled.  
  
* * *  
  
Sliding his fingers along the empty sword sheath he carried, the   
black clothed man made his way to a more lively part of town, full   
of pachinko parlors, night clubs and karaoke halls. The people   
coming and going utterly failed to notice him, just as he liked it.  
  
Though he did not care for the games, he did stop at the front door   
of a glittering video arcade, filled with the lights and sounds of   
a hundred video games blaring out the screams from alien invaders,   
race cars and street fighters. No, the games did not interest him   
in the least. His attention was focused on the girl who was pouring   
all of her concentration on a jet fighter simulator.  
  
* * *  
  
"Yeah, next level!!!" screamed Robin as she shot down the master   
plane she'd been chasing for over five minutes. The pixel-generated   
bomber exploded under her sidewinder and machine gun barrage,   
sending it crashing down into the virtual ground.  
  
A small crowd gathered around her, amazed that she didn't know how   
to play half an hour before.  
  
"You've done this before today!" said a thirteen years old kid who   
thought she was trying to make them look bad.  
  
"No, I swear, I'm just a quick learner... just like my father!" she   
replied without taking her eyes off the screen.  
  
When the virtual bomber plane crashed into the ground, it detonated   
with a loud deafening noise and a huge blast of flashing light. The   
whole crowd cheered, except for Robin. She got scared as she felt   
her hands starting to shake uncontrollably.  
  
"Oh no, not again... NOT AGAIN!!!" she whispered to herself, hoping   
vainly that the shaking would go away. Unfortunately, that wouldn't   
be the case. The shaking quickly spread to her arms and legs, then   
to her whole body. The world blacked out around her and she fell down   
in convulsions; with each passing week, her seizures were increasing   
in occurrences, duration and raw power.  
  
"Somebody get a doctor!" yelled one of the other players, trying to   
hold her down.  
  
* * *  
  
The hooded man looked on the panicked scene with what might appear   
as indifference to a casual observer. To those who might know him   
-and these people were few now- a torrent of rage was flowing   
through his heart.  
  
"Damn you, Technuma, how could you do this to her? How could let   
HIM make this happen?" he mumbled. "I`ll find you... you'll see   
things MY way."  
  
He went on his way, taking no heed to the ambulance sirens blaring   
out into the night. Strolling through this active part of the Tokyo   
nightlife, he soon entered into a more quiet part of town, one where   
many of the secret heroes of humanity resided.  
  
He walked right in front of one of these young fighter's home.  
  
* * *  
  
"Minako... are you awake?" softly whispered Artemis, peering his   
head into the bedroom of his old friend. Staring into the darkness,   
he didn't get any answer. Good, she was sleeping already.  
  
He entered with all the stealth and silence a nimble cat was capable   
of, not making the slightest noise. He silently hopped on her desk   
and took a look towards the bed; Minako was sound asleep, tenderly   
embracing her lover Ami who was dreaming with a sweet smile on her   
face.  
  
"They're such a nice couple." thought the cat. "I wonder why they   
never got together back on the moon kingdom? I'm sure they felt   
love for each other back then..."  
  
Turning his attention away from the sleeping couple, Artemis   
located what he's come for: Ami`s blue laptop computer who was   
resting right next to a pile of algebra books. The white cat went   
straight for the computer and turned it on.  
  
"ENTER PASSWORD" asked the computer. The cat had no idea what the   
password might be, but that didn't matter either way.  
  
"Access secondary entry and bypass security protocol alpha through   
kappa. Download and initiate program ARTEMIS ONE and resume   
information search."  
  
"WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD NEW SEARCH KEYWORDS?" asked the computer.  
  
"Yes. Add words: Prism, celestial, Egypt, transmorphosis. Begin   
search."  
  
The laptop logged on the internet and started its data search. Ami   
mumbled in her sleep and moved around a bit; seeing this, Artemis   
froze in fear. Not for long, however, when Minako moved as well,   
moving her body closer to Ami`s and hugging her warmly through her   
half-sleep haze. Both girls immediately returned to the dreamlands.  
  
"Whoa, that was close." thought Artemis, letting go a silent sigh of   
relief. "I must find it by myself; neither the girls or Luna can   
know of this."  
  
* * *  
  
Stopping along his unfathomable itinerary, the cloaked stranger   
looked into the starry sky which was beginning to cloud over at an   
amazing speed. Within seconds, the silver moon glow was shut out   
and hard rain poured down. What few people was outside at the moment   
were drenched in seconds. Only the cloaked man did not run for cover   
inside one of the late night restaurants, but then again his clothes   
simply didn't get wet at all. He just stood there, waiting for   
something to happen.  
  
More accurately, he was waiting for something NOT to happen.  
  
* * *  
  
"Shingo..." said Laurella, breaking the silence she was sharing   
with her boyfriend.  
  
"Yeah?" he replied, gazing into her hazel eyes.  
  
"Something's amiss... I can't put my finger on it." she said.  
  
"Don't tell me there's another demon invasion on its way?"  
  
"No, something bigger. Like a nightmare you can't remember, but you   
can tell just how terrible it was." she explained.  
  
"If anyone knows how that feels, it's you." said Shingo.  
  
"Yes, I consider myself an expert in the field of nightmares. A   
lifetime worth of experience will do that for you."  
  
"Is there anything we can do about this?" wondered the young man.  
  
"Just hug me." she told him.  
  
Moving from his chair through the hordes of stuffed toys that   
constituted the ecosystem of Laurella's room, Shingo sat on her bed   
and gently put his arms around her waist, holding her close. She felt   
comfortable in his arms, just like in her previous life on the moon   
kingdom. Shingo was no quite as tall and strong as Kitechnum, his   
previous incarnation, although his growth spurt had been fueled   
considerably by his Technum powers over the course of the past six   
months. He was now slightly taller than all the scouts except Makoto,   
which he'd catch up with within a year at most. He was also beginning   
to build a rather attractive and muscular body.  
  
"Everything is as it should now." she said, leaning her head on his   
shoulder. "Everything."  
  
* * *  
  
The sudden shower stopped as suddenly as it started, signaling the   
walking shadow to resume his course. His hard leather boots resounded   
sharply into the silent night. Passing right next to a tall apartment   
building, he went by unnoticed by the handsome young man and his   
gorgeous girlfriend who were looking down from one of the balconies.  
  
* * *  
  
"It's good to be back to earth." said Usagi, looking at the clearing   
sky to the full moon. "I missed the beauty of this world."  
  
Mamoru looked at the young girl with concern. He knew her well, and   
could tell she was holding back something that bothered her.  
  
"Usagi, my bunny..." he whispered. "I can see you're feeling blue.   
It's in your eyes."  
  
Usagi avoided his stare and went back into her boyfriend's apartment,   
her chilled skin covered with a thousand tiny goosebumps.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about." she coldly replied.  
  
"I've known you for a millenium, our souls have touched. I can tell   
these things."  
  
Usagi sat on the living room couch, staring down to the floor to   
avoid Mamoru`s eyes.  
  
"While I was back there... in that outer realm... I lost hope of ever   
seeing you again." she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek.  
  
"I can understand that, darling, you were locked away in a hellhole   
for weeks, anyone else would have cracked a long time before you."   
replied Mamoru with compassion.  
  
"There's... more... to my story... something I didn't tell anyone."   
she continued. More tears followed the first one as she sobbed   
silently. "Even after Akuma pulled me out of that cell when   
Ithzhanh took control of Changraloor... even after Makoto told me   
of this portal to go back home... I didn't even think of you... of   
us... until I saw you on the other side of the gate."  
  
Mamoru remained quiet, taking her hand in his. Words could never   
express what he felt for her in the way this gesture could.  
  
"I kissed him, Mamoru, I kissed that demon and betrayed our love!   
I don't deserve you!" Usagi said, crying her heart out. She pulled   
her hand away in shame.  
  
"Don't say these things, my bunny." said Mamoru, his heart hurting   
from seeing his sweetheart cry. "Our lives are unlike any other on   
this planet, yours especially. You've been chosen to become queen   
of the ultimate human utopia, the champion of love and justice! You   
are everything I could ever desire in a woman and so much more... I   
don't care what you did over there, I know that your heart is true.   
I trust you, Usagi." he said with passion.  
  
Usagi stopped crying and looked in his eyes.  
  
"I love you, Usagi, and not even death could separate me from being   
close to your heart." he added.  
  
Without a word, she embraced her prince and kissed him with all the   
power of the flame that had been growing during her many months of   
separation.  
  
As they kissed with passion, Usagi did not allow her inhibition to   
hold her back as they always did; she let her emotions run free,   
caressing her boyfriend's body with the intense fire that burned   
inside her. Her kisses were hotter than molten lava.  
  
Interrupting for just a moment, Usagi looked at Mamoru`s eyes deep   
into his soul; she had never felt this close to him in this life or   
the previous, and did not want the moment to stop.  
  
Mamoru saw a bright spark in her eyes he didn't know she was   
capable of.  
  
"Mamoru, my love, my prince..." she said.  
  
"Yes?" he asked softly, ready to do whatever she could ask, no matter   
how improbable or impossible the request.  
  
"Please let me spend this night with you, let me become one with   
you." she whispered in his ear.  
  
"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked her.  
  
Usagi nodded her head to give her consent.  
  
Mamoru smiled and kissed her tenderly before picking her up   
delicately in his arms to take her to the bedroom.  
  
"I love you." said Usagi.  
  
"I love you even more." replied Mamoru.   
  
They did not speak another word for the rest of the night.  
  
* * *  
  
After many hours of tireless walking, the cloaked man finally   
reached his destination: a secret and small high tech lab where a   
strange experiment was taking place. Or rather, was drawing to a   
close.  
  
Powerful energy generators were drowning the hilt of a shattered jet   
black sword with controlled beams of a frequency many scientists   
theorized was associated with time distortions. The results were   
less than conclusive.  
  
"Let's stop this right now." said the head researcher. "This thing   
obviously doesn't have what we're looking for."  
  
"But it was showing every sign of time transposition just   
yesterday!!!" argued his assistant.  
  
"And today it doesn't. Time is a tricky concept, you know. Come on,   
let's go get something to eat." replied the head scientist.  
  
They left. Seconds later, the cloaked man appeared into the deserted   
lab.  
  
He held his hand out and the fractured sword hilt flew in his grasp.  
  
Gallagher smiled.  
  
"The Sword That Was Not Forged... That Which Shouldn't Be... the   
paradox to end all aberrations... so many names to call that which   
has been totally forgotten. This instrument of paradox shall help me   
achieve my sacred goal... I shall reforge you, glorious HERESY!!!"   
screamed Gallagher, vanishing from the lab.  
  
* * *  
  
The sun rose over Tokyo yet again, only to set again at the end of   
the day. Very soon, none of the scouts would care if it continued on   
this predictable cycle.  
  
  
The End.  



	18. Sailing The Uncharted

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue  
  
One thousand years ago...  
  
  
Savage screams echoed in the night, brutal songs of blood sang by an   
invasion forces that knew not mercy nor pity. Swords clashed against   
swords, arrows flew towards their soon to be dead targets, streaks   
of unnatural lightning lashed about tearing down the ancient moon   
palace.  
  
Hundreds upon hundreds of dark kingdom soldiers descended upon the   
silver millenium first royal family`s haven, horribly murdering all   
in their way. An era of peace and prosperity was about to end in   
blood.  
  
Standing in the distance, hidden underneath the large cloaking field   
of his silent starship, an ancient being watched without comment.   
Tall and muscular, his light grey skin skin gave no clue as to his   
age or gender- assuming he even had one at all. Passive and   
unintrusive towards this messy business between Serenity and Beryl,   
he waited patiently for the outcome.  
  
He did not have to wait very long. A huge shadow hanging over the   
torn palace unleashed a monstrous wave of destruction, killing   
indiscriminantly her enemies and allies alike. Queen Metalia was   
just about to achieve her final victory, while at the same time her   
servant Berylsavagely murdered the young moon princess and her lover,   
the prince of earth.  
  
The Prime then felt the great sorrow emanating from the battlefield-   
the sorrow and pain of Queen Serenity seeing her daughter die, of a   
mother losing her child; he also felt an even greater power arising   
from her crescent moon wand which was mounted with the legendary   
silver crystal, the Heart of Technazul, the crystallized essence of   
her deceased lover.  
  
A divine light of the purest white glowed throughout the moon palace,   
blinding even the Prime who stood so very far from this battlefield.   
Moments later, the great evil had been vanquished, but at a terrible   
price. Queen Serenity was dying.  
  
Walking towards the now utterly silent ruins of a once mighty   
kingdom, the ancient being found himself surrounded by thousands of   
tiny sparks of golden light rising from the ground the young souls   
floating away to the earth where they would one day reincarnate. He   
also witnessed the Queen giving her final instructions to a duo of   
venusian cats before placing them in stasis pods.   
  
Once they were gone, he went over to the dying queen.  
  
She just laid on her back on the cracked marble floor of the   
shattered court outside the destroyed palace that had seen her rise   
to power, blankly staring to the earth where she`d sent the soul of   
her only daughter, the greatest treasure of the universe in her eyes.  
  
Serenity then saw the towering presence of the Prime. She smiled   
faintly, her last strenght waning rapidly. "Thanks the stars you   
stayed away from all this, old friend." she whispered.  
  
Moving his finger to her lips, he silently beckoned her to preserve   
what little lifeforce she still had. He delicately picked her up and   
brought her back to the cloaked starship Equinox, turning his back   
to the deserted palace. Neither of them would ever return there.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 18  
  
SAILING THE UNCHARTED  
  
  
The roads of Japan were getting to be rather dangerous with the   
massive snowfalls that hadbeen occuring lately, which were weird in   
themselves because such massive snowfall did not usually hit the   
country of the rising sun until much later in the year, yet there it   
was. The ground was covered with over a foot of snow already, and   
the streets where ladden with a treacherous layer of ice. The month   
of november had barely started.  
  
Not that this stopped the metallic red sportscar of Haruka from   
speeding down along the deathtrap that was the japanese countryside   
roads. Halfway between Tokyo and Shizuoka, the mighty Sailor Uranus   
was driven to get to the coordinates given to her by the unexpected  
copilot fate had chosen to be in her backseat.  
  
"We`re almost there." said Umino, punching in wildly at the keyboard   
of Sailor Mercury`s ocean blue computer which he had on his lap.   
"Bear in mind that the re-entry trajectory is very hard to calculate,   
I can only give you the general area."  
  
"That`s already very good." said Naru, overlooking the screen from   
the seat next to Umino`s. "Without you, we wouldn`t have made it   
this far."  
  
"Slow down, Uranus, getting us killed won`t get us anywhere!"   
encouraged Sailor Neptune. Sitting in the front seat at the passenger   
side, she was wearing not the usual sailor uniform that she always   
wore since the first day she used her transformation pen, but rather   
the futuristic fuku of the soul powered senshi. Ressembling Usagi`s   
uniform in shape and cut, she also wore the high-tech eye visor and   
protective shin and forearm guards, except that her own fuku had a   
light green and blue scheme with a wave motif, her right tight   
bearing goldenkanji that read TAIYOO NO SENSHI, "soldier of the   
ocean".  
  
"If we get there too late, she could freeze to death!" argued Haruka   
who accelerated even further. Nobody was going to convince her to   
slow down.  
  
Out of the opaque white snow-filled sky, a fiery streak scorched its   
way to the earth, finding a landing spot many miles away from the   
four passengers of the speeding car.  
  
"There it is!" screamed Naru, pointing to the screeching ball of   
fire.  
  
"I`m not letting it get away from us!!!" replied Haruka. She pushed   
the gas pedal to the floor.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Moon arose out of her cryosleep to find herself encased in   
what reminded her of a coffin, locked inside in total darkness, save   
for the small blinking light that monitered her steadily increasing   
heartbeat. Her mind clouded over from the stasis, she could barely   
figure out where she was, let alone how to get out of this container.  
  
Not that it wasn`t comfortable, mind you. It was shaped exactly for a   
human form and the lining was soft and pleasing to the touch.   
Regardless, she wanted out.  
  
She touched and felt her way around the small ergonomical space,   
looking for a door handle or something; that something was a tiny   
control panel under her right hand which opened the lid in a smooth   
whir of gears, brutally exposing Sailor Moon to the harsh exterior.   
Cold air and snow rushed in with full force, cruely biting her skin   
while her eyes were stung by the bright daylight reverberated over   
the pure white snow.  
  
In a strange way, leaving the protective interior of the escape pod   
was very much similar to a second birth for her.  
  
As her eyes got used to light once again, Usagi saw that she had   
landed in the middle of a large field, forests and mountains visible   
in the distance. The only thing not covered with a thick layer of   
the ever falling snow was the long fire trail left by the now   
disfunctional escape pod.  
  
Although it had been several minutes now since she has awakened,   
her mind was still a chaotic mush for some reason. Unable to connect   
thoughts in an ordered fashion, she stepped out of the pod and   
started walking aimlessly. Her senshi fuku was very uncomfortable,   
stiff from the blood and unidentifiable orange substance dried in   
the fabric. The bloody stains cracked and flaked as her joints   
bended from her zombie-like motions.  
  
And her head hurt, too. It pounded heavily, so much so that she   
couldn`t think at all.  
  
Sailor Moon tried to remember how the hell she got there; her head   
felt like it would explode. Incapable of thinking of anything but   
the pain, she collapsed on her knees and screamed, holding on to   
her head with both hands.  
  
Why couldn`t she remember what happened?  
  
She eventually gave up to recall her memories, focusing her energies   
to get back up and walk, fighting against the pain in her head and   
the sharp bite of the brutal winter cold. She trembled with violent   
spasms induced by the steady drop of her body temperature. Surely   
even Sailor Moon couldn`t hold out forever in this hostile situation,   
but she had to try.  
  
To put it simply, she had no other options. Walk or die. Simple as   
that.  
  
Ordinarily, Sailor Moon would have been able to resist this   
crippling cold much better, but she was weakened from a terrible   
battle she couldn`t remember at the end of which she had witnessed   
something so shocking that her subconscious would not allow her a   
chance to recall. Her frozen skin was beginning to numb, while her   
muscles stiffened more with each painstaking step she took.  
  
Just before she was about to give up, a shadow pierced through the   
blanket of driving snow; it was the silhouette of Sailor Uranus   
running up to her.  
  
Her legs failing her, Sailor Moon fell on her knees. She giggled and   
shed a pair of crystalline tears that froze instantly in her   
eyelashes. "I knew you`d come." she said before fainting and falling   
face first in the thick layer of wet, sticky snow.  
  
* * *  
  
The soothing warmth of the electric blanket against her skin brought   
back Usagi to the land of the living where she felt relieved to still   
be alive. Her muscles still felt horribly stiff, which made her   
suspect that there might be more to her pains than simple frostbite.  
  
She stared at the ceiling, where large fluorescent lights beamed a   
soft white glow that not quite managed to make her feel at ease.   
Hospital lights were just not made for helping patients be   
comfortable.  
  
Hospital?  
  
Of course, THAT`s where she was. The bed with the metal siderails,   
the sterile white walls, the light green drape surrounding the other   
patient next to her, the ever present smell of institution-brand   
disinfectant...  
  
The sting in her right arm confirmed this, as it was caused by the   
needle connecting her to an intravenous nutritive feed.  
  
Damn. How was she going to explain yet another trip to the hospital   
to her parents, when she could hardly even remember where she`d been   
or why? She`d have to blame amnesia again. That excuse was getting   
old, even if it had done wonders in the past. This time, she wouldn`t  
even be lying.  
  
"Yes, doctor, she should have been wearing more warm clothes. I`ll   
make sure she does the next time she goes on one of those wilderness   
expeditions." said in the corridor a voice she knew all too well.   
  
She smiled as Mamoru walked in.  
  
"Hello, my bunny, I see you`re awake." said Mamoru, looking her in   
the eyes with that gaze that always made her melt.  
  
"Hi." she could barely say.  
  
For all her pain and hazyness, Usagi could still tell something was   
wrong from the almost undetectable worry showing on his face. She   
knew him that well.  
  
"You look so calm, Usagi, so... happy... tell me, what day are we?"   
he asked.  
  
"Hummm.... it`s... friday... hey, Haruka and Michiru are getting back   
from their vacation in Europe tonight! I have to be there!" she said,   
realizing that her condition would prevent her from going to the   
airport. "Wait a minute... wasn`t it Haruka who found me in that snow  
field?" she wondered, suddenly recalling her ordeal.  
  
"It`s been a while since they returned to Japan, and yes, you were   
there to greet them. maybe I should explain what has happened from   
the beginning..." started Mamoru.  
  
* * *  
  
"It`s been months since they left, I can`t wait to see them again!"   
said the little Chibi-Usa as she scooted along Usagi in the Tokyo   
international airport. She loved the atmosphere of this place, the   
people coming and going, the tearful separations and the happy   
reunions.  
  
There was something magical about an airport, especially when friends   
were about to come back.  
  
"You`re right, I`ve missed them a lot since Michiru got a chance to   
be featured in that italian exposition; in her last letter, she told   
me that they wanted to take some time off while they were in Europe."   
said Usagi.  
  
"I heard that they`re buying a house with Setsuna." said Mamoru as he   
looked at the many arrival gates for the right one.  
  
"Speaking of which... there she is!" observed Minako who spotted the   
guardian of time, dressed inconspicuously stunning as only she could.   
Although Setsuna was several thousand years old, she looked barely a   
day over thirty.  
  
"Over here!" said Setsuna, waving to her friends.  
  
"Looking sharp as usual!" commented Minako, ever conscious of other   
people`s fashion sense.  
  
"Thanks. You`re all looking nice yourselves." she replied shyly.  
  
"Michiru sounded really excited on the phone, she said she had some   
really wonderful news to announce." said Usagi.   
  
"What do you think she meant?" wondered Minako as her friends flight   
began unboarding and swamping the customs agents.  
  
"I see them there! I see them, I see them!!!" said Chibi-Usa, overly   
excited.  
  
While the pink haired girl and her friends rushed over to welcome   
back the young couple, Setsuna discreetly grabbed Usagi by the arm   
and took her aside. Her face was grim, and so were her words.  
  
"You`re about to face the greatest trial of your life, young rabbit   
of the moon." she said.  
  
"What are you saying?" asked Usagi, surprised of this sudden warning.  
  
"Never forget that sometimes death is preferable to the horrid pain   
of life." she added. The mysterious Setsuna`s expression then   
radically changed, returning to a happy smile as she ran to greet   
her old friends who were exhausted from their long flight and   
crumbling under the weight of their suitcases.  
  
Usagi hesitated a second; she knew well that Sailor Pluto had   
knowledge of future events, and as such none of her warnings could   
be ignored... if only she wasn`t so cryptic!!!  
  
So she decided to simply keep the dire warning in mind, waiting to   
see what would happen. In the meantime, her friends were there! She   
reached them at the gate entrance just in time to see Michiru show   
off the ring Haruka had given her while in Venice.  
  
"We`re engaged!!!" said Michiru, beaming with happiness as she held   
up her glowing diamond ring. It was a delicate and beautiful work   
of art.  
  
"I could have sworn that the gondolier cried when you accepted it   
and said `yes`!" said Haruka.  
  
"Now we both have one!!!" added Usagi, holding her own engagement   
ring next to Michiru`s.  
  
* * *  
  
Deep in the empty void separating the inner ring planets, the   
starship Avatar Mark II soared at unimaginable speeds while heading   
back from earth towards Saturn Station Beta. Silently gliding in the   
airless vacuum, the ship smoothly carried its lone pilot to his   
destination while requiring little to no human guidance. The onboard   
computer did almost everything itself.  
  
Technuma Saturn was bored out of his mind.  
  
He had gathered a lot of data relative to his pet project, the   
recreation of Sailor Saturn. It had been a complete success: using   
DNA segments from himself and Technulis Mercury as well as mental   
templates fused together into a single, complete mind, he`d created   
a fully grown seventeen years old girl with power enough to equal   
and even surpass his deceased pupil, the young Tomoe Hotaru.  
  
Now even though the reincarnation of Sailor Saturn had been murdered   
by Ronmar, the outer senshi circle was complete once again.  
  
He was convinced his "project:second coming" to be flawless... until   
the seizures started. Sudden, unexpected and violent, they struck   
more and more often. He wanted to help her, find a cure to her   
crippling illness, but time was running out. At the current rate,   
her cerebral structure would collapse soon as her neural pathways   
crashed one by one with each new epileptic attack.  
  
He was afraid for her. He had sworn himself to stay distant and   
objective from the very day he had spliced her chromosones, but he   
couldn`t help himself from loving her as the daughter he had given   
life to. He simply couldn`t forget that sweet smile she gave him as   
she emerged from the bioengineering tank.  
  
Staring at the apparently immobile environment his ship glided   
through, he slowly fell asleep.  
  
Around him sounded music.  
Lights flashed.  
Laughter echoed.  
  
Technuma realized he was in the weirdest place ever conceived by the   
human mind- a discotheque.  
  
On the multicolored checker floor danced the eleven sailor scouts   
along with his fellow guardians. The music was provided by an   
orchestra with the Prime on guitar, Noratech Neptune on drums and   
Technumina Venus as lead singer. The odd sight was completed by the  
cage dancers, Queen Serenity and Queen Beryl.  
  
In an instant, they all vanished. Darkness surrounded Technuma who   
staggered in the dark for a few instants until he bumped into   
something. A beam of light with no apparent source revealed it was   
his daughter Robin; she was wearing her Sailor Saturn uniform and   
had long strings wrapped around her ankles and wrists, dancing like   
a mindless puppet.  
  
As she skipped around her father, her string guided movements   
ressembled the jerky spasms of a seizure. He tried to reach for her,   
but she vanished as well.  
  
In her place appeared a large stand where sat twelve young girls in   
senshi fuku, their faces hidden underneath masks of jet black cloth.   
Only their accusing eyes peered through.  
  
"HERE COMES THE JUDGE! HERE COMES THE JUDGE! HERE COMES THE JUDGE!"   
they all sang repeatedly in a perfect harmony of recriminations.  
  
"ORDER IN THE COURT!!!" screamed Gallagher just as he appeared in   
the same fashion as the jury of senshis, smashing hard a small   
mallet on his pedestal. In addition to his black clothes, hood and   
cape, he also wore a mask identical to those worn by the jurors.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Technuma who felt tiny in the awe inspiring   
presence of the hooded and masked man.  
  
"Let the record show that the defendant shows his guilt by ignorance   
of the judge`s identity." observed Gallagher casually. "Jury, how do   
you find the defendant?"  
  
"GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTYYYYYYY!!!" they all screamed in unison.  
  
"WAIT A MINUTE! What about due process? You haven`t had a single   
witness yet!" protested the accused guardian.  
  
"Fair enough. Bring the witness." said the judge.  
  
A beam of light appeared and revealed the presence of Technazul   
Terra in the witness box.  
  
"He`s betrayed us all by refusing to remember. He`s playing right   
into the hands of the enemy. He`s nothing more than a pawn that   
allowed the chess player to win the game through a queen`s gambit."   
said Technazul.  
  
"I think that says it all. Jury?" asked Gallagher.  
  
"GUILTY!" they all screamed.  
  
"NO! I`m innocent, I`d never let an enemy endanger humanity!!!"   
yelled Technuma.  
  
"Prove it." whispered the voice of his pupil, Hotaru. "Don`t let the   
enemy commit the greatest heresy of all!"  
  
Jolting out of his torpor, Technuma suddenly realized that his ship   
was getting ready to dock into Saturn Station Beta.  
  
There was more to this dream of his than he could think of, he was   
sure of that. But what could it be?  
  
* * *  
  
"I thought she was dead!" said Haruka in surprise.  
  
"She is. Hotaru was killed, but this time Sailor Saturn is somebody   
else, somebody who chooses to remain in hiding for the time being."   
said Setsuna as she helped Haruka unpack the many suitcases brought   
back by Uranus and Neptune.  
  
"You know who she is, don`t you? You had a vision, I can see it in   
your eyes." said Haruka.  
  
"I did. A horrible one. I`d rather not talk about it either." she   
replied. "Why don`t you take her to bed upstairs?" she added, looking   
at Michiru who`d fallen asleep on the living room couch. It had taken   
the gentle girl but a few minutes to think of this new house as home.  
  
"Okay, I will. But you`ll have to tell us more about this new Saturn,   
after all you do know more than us about it... as usual."  
  
"And I`ll tell you what I can that won`t catastrophicaly alter the   
flow of time... as usual." simply answered Setsuna. "It`s getting   
late, let`s finish this tomorrow."  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi felt a little bit better now that her memory was starting to   
heal. These few bits and pieces of her past fell into rank, placing   
the first piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, she had no idea what   
the final picture was supposed to look like.  
  
"Mamoru, darling, are you really sure it`s safe to tell me about the   
scouts with another patient over there?" she whispered, pointing to   
the thin green drape.  
  
"Don`t worry, our secret is safe. The man next to you is in a deep   
coma, one he probably won`t wake up from. We can talk." he said.  
  
"So what exactly did happen?" wondered Usagi. "After we welcomed   
Haruka and Michiru, I mean. Something had to happen to make me land   
here, right?"  
  
She tried to remember, but her head pounded again. Tears rolled down   
her cheeks, as her subconscious fought against her efforts with all   
its might. SOMETHING was locked in her brain that the rest of her   
uncontrolled mental processes were desperately fighting to keep  
hidden.  
  
"Why don`t you rest, my bunny. I`ll come back tomorrow morning."   
said Mamoru.   
  
Usagi could only agree. Knocked out by her mental effort and physical   
strain, she had no difficulty getting to sleep.  
  
"Oh poor Usagi...", thought the young man as he held her hand in his.   
"...what terrible secret is your battered soul refusing to yield?"  
  
He silently sobbed as he looked over the past few days. For all his   
faith in the woman he loved and his hope that all would turn out   
fine, he simply did not know if her mind could withstand to recall   
what she had seen up there...  
  
  
To be continued...  



	19. In Cold Blood

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
One thousand years ago...  
  
  
The moon kingdom had been dreading this instant for quite some   
time, now.  
  
From the moment it had first been noticed by the royal astronomers   
stationned on the Charon outer station, just on the outside of the   
solar system, the Leviathan comet had been hanging over the head of   
Queen Serenity like the sword of Damocles that it really was.  
  
Many attempts had been made to curve its trajectory, reduce its   
great speed and even destroy it altogether.  
  
All of these attempts failed dismaly. Not even the queen herself   
could stop it as her silver crystal, already brittle from many   
centuries of use in forging the silver millenium, shattered into   
a hundred useless pieces.  
  
For all of the efforts made, nothing would help the doomed satellite   
of earth. The habitants had already begun fleeing to other planets   
while the population of earth prayed for the consequences of such an   
impact on the moon to be minimal on their own ecosystem. The long   
shining dart of death was now the only thing visible in the moon sky,   
its menace looming in a promise of unescapable oblivion.  
  
Only three people remained on the lunar surface, in a last ditch   
effort to put an end to the menace.  
  
Three Technum guardians stared towards the Leviathan comet.   
  
The first one dressed in emerald green, Kitechnum Jendra. The second   
one dressed in sapphire blue, Technuma Saturn. The last one and   
certainly the most powerful, wearing shining silver, Technazul Terra.  
  
"I understand why you would want to do this, Technazul, but my   
question is... are you CERTAIN this is what you want to do?" asked   
Kitechnum.  
  
"By doing this, you`ll be rendering useless the regen-cloning process,   
your essence will be lost to us! None of my medical equipment can   
help you if you sacrifice yourself in this fashion." added Technuma.  
  
"Yes, I`m quite sure." said Technazul, a single tear rolling down his   
cheek. "I am doing this so that my newborn daughter may have the   
future she deserves. My darling Usagi will get a chance to grow,   
live and love on the moon."  
  
"Then let it begin." coldly said Kitechnum. He was sad of losing a   
friend, but he knew that this sacrifice would not be in vain.  
  
Raising his hands to his chest, Technazul slowly began charging raw   
Technum energy in his entire body. As more and more charged in his   
body, he gradually channelled it into his heart where it melded with   
the very lifeforce that fueled his earthly existence. Fighting   
against the pain that wracked his nerves, Technazul felt his life   
fleeting away while the energies within himself drained outside of   
his physical form into a single point in the air. Flowing out of   
his palms and forming a three inch large sphere of energy, Technazul   
used the last of his lifeforce to compress this refined Technum into   
a small glithering silver crystal.  
  
He then colapsed into the arms of Technuma, his body already starting   
to grow cold. Seeing the new silver crystal floating above the ground   
in the very spot where Technazul had forged it, Kitechnum hesitantly   
picked it up in his trembling hands. He felt the presence of   
Technazul in his palms, the crystal being vibrant with the warmth of   
the man who had willingly given his life so that his loved ones may   
live.  
  
"He`s... dead." said Technuma, incapable of finding a pulse on the   
guardian`s body.  
  
"No, he`s not. He still lives within this crystal." said Kitechnum.   
  
"It`s so tragic that it had to come to this... do you think it`s   
really possible Technazul might have been right?"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"About this comet being MANUFACTURED, so that this sacrifice of his   
would be the only way to save the moon kingdom from destruction!"   
said Technuma.  
  
"Maybe. But even if we accused HIM, where would that lead us? We   
don`t have any proof to sustain our claim." replied Kitechnum with   
implacable reasoning.  
  
"So what do we do? Go back to Saturn Station Alpha and pretend   
nothing`s happened? If we`re right about this, then we`ll be right   
besides a conninving manipulator every day until we can expose him...   
unless he gets us both before we manage to get proof to convince   
the others."   
  
"I`m sorry to say that too much power in the hands of anyone is a   
great risk to take. Not even us guardians are immune to the dangers   
of megalomany..." said Kitechnum, looking at the glowing crystal   
in his right hand. "If you`ll excuse me now, I have a comet to   
destroy."  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 19  
  
IN COLD BLOOD  
  
  
The rumbling in her stomach woke her up rather early.  
  
Her head felt woozy from the uncomfortable sleep she had. The white   
glow from the neon lights above her head helped ensure that Usagi   
would have a miserable night`s rest. And so the young girl found   
herself with nothing to do but lie there and think about what had   
been happening to her over the past few days.  
  
The pain started to hammer inside her skull again, though not quite   
as strong as the last evening. She could nowclearly recall Haruka   
and Michiru arriving at Tokyo`s international airport, Michiru   
announcing her engagement to Haruka and the gloomy warning from   
Setsuna.  
  
She was hoping that her friends would drop by again to tell her more.   
Usagi had this nagging suspicion that she was missing something   
really, really important. Something she simply had to know.  
  
* * *  
  
At roughly the same moment, Umino and Naru where coming to see their   
friend. They carried their backpacks which contained some essentials   
they were bringing Usagi and... another friend in need.  
  
"I`ll go check on Usagi if you don`t mind going on your own..." said   
Naru.  
  
"Don`t worry, we`re both smart people, we understand each other." he   
answered. Umino kissed Naru softly and went on his way to a different   
room close to Usagi`s.  
  
He entered the smaller, private room. Gently approaching Mizuno Ami   
who was asleep in a chair next to the bed, he placed his hand on her   
shoulder to wake her up.  
  
"Whu... what... is it?" she asked, yawning.  
  
"It`s been three days, Ami. You need rest. You can leave her side a   
few hours, now that her condition has stabilized." said Umino.  
  
He looked up from the emotionaly tired Ami to the young girl lying in   
the bed. Her face and arms severely bruised, she had large blackeyes   
and many wounds all over her body. Connected to many medical monitors,   
her lifesigns had to be closely followed to ensure that her cerebral   
swelling was kept under control.  
  
Minako was indeed paying a high price for her deadly encounter with   
Gallagher.  
  
"She still hasn`t woken up since that battle..." said Ami, holding   
back her tears with all her strenght.  
  
"She`ll pull through, Sailor Venus is a fighter." replied Umino. Her   
opened his backpack and pulled out Ami`s laptop. "Here, thank you for   
letting me use it to track Usagi`s escape pod. It was very helpful."   
he said.  
  
Ami did her best to try and smile.  
  
"I`m glad I could help..." she tried to say, then started crying.  
  
Umino hugged her and gave her all the support he could. He knew how   
much Minako meant to her, and wasn`t ready to abandon hope of Sailor   
Venus pulling through without any permanent brain damage.  
  
"She made it this far, she won`t give up." he said softly, looking   
over to the fallen scout. The sound of her machine assisted breathing   
filled the room, dreadful reminder to Gallagher`s agenda.  
  
* * *  
  
Darkness surrounded the silhouette of a man with a purpose, a driving   
goal which had been defining him for longer than anyone could   
remember or suspect. Sitting in a stiff lotus position he`d learned   
from a being even older than himself, he meditated on his mission.  
  
The sweet smell of sandalwood incense drifted through the empty room.  
  
Well, almost empty. The floor around him was riddled with a variety   
of magical instruments necessary to the various rituals he used.   
Among the tools of Gallagher were the hilt of a broken black metal   
sword, a black cloth mask and twelve medium sized cards, all of them   
blank save one.  
  
It showed the image of the soul powered Sailor Moon, proudly holding   
Avenger.  
  
Gallagher placed the cards in a pocket of his shirt. He was ready to   
gather the missing pieces of Heresy whose broken hilt he had   
retrieved from a research lab. The timing was just right, he had to   
get moving.  
  
He picked up the sword hilt and placed it in the sheath hangin from   
his belt. He then left the dark, miserable appartment.  
  
* * *  
  
Like all the fifteen years old teenagers in Tokyo, Tsukino Shingo was   
quite fascinated by video games and had a natural talent for playing   
them, and so did his girlfriend Laurella Hammerson. What set Shingo   
apart from the rest of other young teenage boys was the his Technum   
guardian inheritance which granted him strong powers that got   
stronger with each passing day. It is the rather unusual   
manifestation of these new powers that was currently preventing him   
from concentrating on his game play.  
  
Laurella was beating the crap out of him that day.  
  
"Okay, Kit, what`s the deal? Are you LETTING me win?!?" she asked.   
Laurella had gotten used to call him Kit, a shorter form of   
Kitechnum, the name of his previous incarnation whom she was madly   
in love with... and still was to that day. Shingo was also quite   
taken with Laurella, the reincarnated Sailor Jendra who had died   
alongside him.  
  
"No, I`m not, I just can`t get my thoughts focused. I keep getting   
these... how can I say it... impressions. Like something out of the   
past is about to resurface, and I have some part to play in it   
somehow." he explained, throwing his game controller onto one of   
the many piles of stuffed toys strewned about Laurella`s bedroom.   
"Or maybe I`m just not digesting that pizza I had for lunch." he   
added, laughing nervously.  
  
"Don`t worry, I know a good way of making that bad feeling go away."   
replied the young girl, kissing Shingo tenderly.  
  
* * *  
  
The aura of respect was rather commanding to those who visited the   
Tokyo Golden Sun art museum. Many visitors were admiring the ancient   
works of arts, ranging from renaissance paintings to ancient statues   
from the early japanese dynasties, as well as several more modern   
works.  
  
Being both highly intelligent, very artistic and trained in art   
appreciation, Ami and Michiru were able to fully enjoy the rich   
textures and underlying messages to the old italian paintings.  
  
"This is undeniably an attempt from man to reach god within his   
lifetime, to attain divine perfection but keep his imperfect nature   
as well." described Ami eloquently.  
  
"Indeed, the rich color scheme and smooth composition would seem to   
deny this impossible dream and make unattainable this goal by simple   
wishful thinking." mentionned Michiru.  
  
Minako and Haruka, however, were not so skilled.  
  
"Hum, I like the pretty colors." said Haruka.  
  
"Ditto." replied Minako.  
  
The two blonde girls looked at each other and understood immediately   
that they were thinking the same thing: they came here to be nice   
for their girlfriends, but that the next double date should be   
something less... well... intellectual.  
  
"Excuse me a second, I have to go to the bathroom..." said Minako,   
retreating to the next hall where she remembered seeing the women`s   
room. It would give her a five minute breather to stay away from the   
intense artistic brainstorming between Mercury and Neptune.  
  
Unfortunately for her, she took a wrong turn somewhere on her way   
and quickly got lost.  
  
That`s when she noticed this strange character dressed all in black.   
That in itself wasn`t too surprising; many of the younger people in   
both Japan and Europe where she`d lived for some time did that all   
the time.  
  
What made him stand apart wasn`t his cape and hood either. It was his   
mask and the black sword hanging at his side. And the fact that   
nobody else but her seemed to notice him despite his odd appearance   
and the loud stepping noise of his black leather boots.  
  
She decided that it might be a good idea to follow him, see what he   
was up to. That wasn`t too hard, as he made no effort to conceal   
himself. His strange arcane aura took care of that.  
  
After a few minutes of an unhurried stroll through the greek art   
gallery and the french expressionist exhibition, he finally entered   
one of the least visited halls, where were exposed some of the   
stranger works, the unappreciated and the downright bizarre.  
  
And bizarre indeed was the statue which seemed to get his attention:   
a strange one-piece dark marble work representing four nightmarish   
warriors dreesed in hellish armors and bearing deadly polearms. Just   
seeing that thing sent a shiver down Minako`s spine, yet she couldn`t   
pry her eyes off it. Like a nightmare that one fears not from memory   
but from the very idea of ever having it.  
  
Staying behind one of the room`s larger eyesores, Minako spied on   
him, ready to act in case he did anything strange. And he did just   
that.  
  
The masked and hooded man lifted his right hand and began quoting   
exerpts from his own diaries, a manuscript written in obvious   
biblical overtones.  
  
"And thus the impure was thrown out of the mighty heavens by the   
God creator, cast into the shadows of his own designs..." he said   
softly.  
  
Minako slowly began searching blindly through her purse for her   
transformation pen. She couldn`t pry her eyes off this strange   
spectacle, especially when the man`s hands charged themselves with  
a glow of raw blue energy.  
  
* * *  
  
"Kit, are you alright?" wondered Laurella, as her boyfriend`s face   
twisted itself in apparent pain.  
  
"I don`t feel so good." he said.  
  
* * *  
  
"Burning through the hells of deceit and lies, so shall the impure   
be reborn under a guise of darkness, not of evil or treachery but of   
a new light casting reflection upon existence..." continued the man,   
his whole body charged up like a dynamo. His cape was fluttering like  
a flag during a storm despite the total lack of wind or air movement;   
he wasn`t even touching the ground anymore, he simply hovered a few   
inches above ground.  
  
"For sure the guy is trouble!" thought Minako who discreetly changed   
into Sailor Venus.  
  
"The great Lord had turned his back from his greatest mistake in   
error, for surely it was to become his most glorious triumph! Let the   
reborn embrace his destiny and receive his prize, his justly deserved   
weapon, the instrument of vengence upon the heretic Himself!" he   
screamed, focusing the blue aura of energy into a blasting beam   
directed to the statue of the four fearsome warriors.  
  
It was shattered into a hundred thousand shreds of burning hot marble   
that were scattered throughout the wide exhibition hall as the   
defeaning explosive sound reverberated and echoed a hundred times   
over.  
  
* * *  
  
Shingo screamed in terrible pain as the energies unleashed by   
Gallagher found an harmonic resonance into his brain. He collapsed   
on the ground in pain as the energies of a paradox unearthed from   
the distant past was being reawakened into solid reality.  
  
Heresy was soon to be reforged, and the young guardian could feel   
its emerging presence.  
  
* * *  
  
Among the scrap remains of the statue was a sharp piece of sharp   
metal. It looked as it could fit perfectly onto the hilt of the   
broken sword Gallagher pulled from his sheath.  
  
He slowly bent over to pick it up, only to have a thin ray of   
golden light knock it out of reach a split second before he did.  
  
Looking up from the origin of the blast, he saw the proud and   
beautiful Sailor Venus firmly standing her ground.  
  
"I am Sailor Venus, and I won`t stand for the destruction of art,   
no matter how ugly it is!" she said, taking her battle pose.  
  
"I feel your mind is weak, young fighter." said Gallagher, charging   
his left hand with blue energy once again. "But fear not. It is   
burning hot with the passion of war, and needs only the hammer of   
truth to forge it into a mighty weapon of justice."  
  
He lifted his hand, unleashing a shockwave that sent Venus flying   
into a wall, knocking the air out of her lungs. He then floated back   
down to the rubble littered floor.  
  
"Please let me be the smith who forges that iron." he added without   
showing emotion.  
  
Venus tried to get back up, but was overpowered by Gallagher who   
brutally punched her in the stomach and the face in a violent   
sequence of powerful blows. His speed and strenght were simply too   
great for her, and she wasn`t able to get a single blow through. In   
a last desperate attack, she swung a weak punch through the shroud   
that prevented her from seeing well; her bleeding, rapidly swelling   
face was too much a hindrance to overcome, and she missed.  
  
Gallagher did not even need to strike again, Sailor Venus losing   
consciousness on her own.  
  
This being done, he pointed the sword hilt to the broken blade piece   
which flew over to Heresy and reattached itself, fusing back with   
the same material resistance as the forgotten sword had before it   
was shattered.  
  
"One piece of the puzzle falls in place. Now for the other..." he   
whispered, hearing the steps of the three other scouts who came   
charging to Venus`s rescus, alerted by the explosion.  
  
With one swift move of his left hand, another blue energy explosion   
greeted Neptune, Uranus and Mercury, showering them with shards of   
the blasted floor.  
  
"What happened here?" asked Neptune, coughing on the floating dust   
cloud surrounding them.  
  
"NO!" screamed Mercury as she saw her badly beaten girlfriend. "What   
has that bastard done to you?!?"  
  
As Sailor Mercury ran to assist the unconscious Venus, Uranus and   
Neptune stood ready for the fight.  
  
"You hurt our friend, you`ll pay for that!" said Neptune.  
  
"We`ve destroyed our enemies for offenses less serious than that..."   
said Uranus without unclenching her teeth.  
  
"And so the flock turned on their sheperd, unaware of the stick he   
carried." replied Gallagher, floating back up until his feet were   
above shoulder level of the two scouts. "Thus he gave them the harsh   
lesson they justly deserved for incurring his righteous fury!!!"  
  
Dark ribbons formed around the partially repaired black metal sword,   
spinning in wildly erratic ellipse so large and fast that they   
blurred the masked man, shielding him in a deadly cocoon.  
  
"What`s that?!?" whispered Uranus.  
  
"I don`t know... but whatever the hell it is, be ready to..."   
replied Neptune. She didn`t have time to pronounce the word DODGE   
that a stream of ribbons soared in their direction at lightning   
speed.   
  
"LOOK OUT!!!" screamed Mercury, as she saw the black ribbons wrapping   
themselves around the arms, chest and legs of her allies. Uranus was   
particularly unlucky; one of them was wrapped tightly around her   
neck, choking her rapidly.  
  
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!!" yelled Neptune, sending a wave of mystic water   
towards the man who was trying to kill the only women she ever   
loved.  
  
No effect. The spinning ribbon shield of Gallagher shrugged off the   
attack easily. Michiru panicked as she couldn`t free herself or help   
Haruka.  
  
"Fight him, Uranus, don`t let him kill you!" she begged, watching as   
the young scout fought desperately for air, her face turning   
increasingly red. Her eyelids fluttered, and her eyes turned on   
themselves as her body went limp. Using all her strenght in one last   
attempt at freedom, she failed to break the strange material, thin   
yet seemingly unbreakable.  
  
"No mere mortal warrior could ever hope to defeat Gallagher." he   
said coldly.  
  
Sailor Neptune screamed in a violent rage, something inside her   
snapped. Her love was simply too powerful to let her soulmate die   
in such a trivial manner. A great surge of untold energy exploded   
in her mind, filled her heart and body; her whole sailor uniform   
tore itself from the inside out from the unimaginable golden light   
that gloriously announced the universe that another senshi was born.  
  
Sailor Neptune was now wearing the senshi fuku, holding in her hand   
the mighty Monsoon, a sharp trident made of pure lapis-lazuli. In   
one slash, she was free. In two slashes so was Haruka who breathed   
again, her eyes opening slightly.  
  
"Very impressive, but can that toy match the power of Heresy?"   
taunted Gallagher. From his incomplete sword came a roaring bolt   
of blue lightning which Monsoon blocked with ease.  
  
"It`s time for you to receive your dues, monster!" boasted Neptune   
with confidence. "DEEP WATER..."   
  
She spun around her trident, an ocean blue gleam being emitted from   
her weapon. A distant sound of raging waters made itself heard,   
approaching rapidly.  
  
"...TSUNAMI..."  
  
The sound of water revealed its source as a huge wave of water   
appeared out of nowhere from all around Michiru; it surged forward   
towards Gallagher, forming a huge vortex that encased him totally,   
spinning faster and faster while picking up a lot of the rubble on   
the floor.  
  
"...CRUSHER!!!" completed soul powered Sailor Neptune.  
  
Gallagher quickly found himself in an out of control ride inside   
the monstrous vortex, upside down and getting slashed repeatedly   
by the sharp marble scraps. The water pressure mounted to   
intolerable levels, crushing his lungs with over two hundred   
atmospheres of sheer force. After a few seconds that seemed like   
years to him, the vortex broke suddenly, catapulting him right   
through one of the delicately crafted stain-glass windows.  
  
Ironically, it represented the fall of Baast, the angel who   
rebelled against God only to be cast out of heaven to become   
lord of all hells.  
  
"Haruka, are you all right?" said the triumphant senshi, rushing   
to her lover.  
  
"I`ll be... just fine... go finish off... that bastard!" she said,   
coughing and wheezing.  
  
"The hell with Gallagher! I`m not leaving you here while you`re   
wounded!!!" she replied.  
  
"Somebody get an ambulance, Minako`s dying!" implored Mercury.   
Venus`s lifesigns were fading fast.  
  
* * *  
  
Outside the museum, Gallagher landed brutally on the pavement of the   
parking lot amidst the dissipating wave of Technum-based water. His   
breathing almost impossible to keep up, his muscles bruised and his   
clothes drenched, he still managed to hold on to Heresy throughout   
the whole devastating attack of Sailor Neptune.  
  
He laughed, reaching painfully for the cards in his secret pocket.   
Only ten were blank now, a card now being blessed with the graceful   
image of the soul powered Neptune.  
  
"Another senshi is ready, everything is proceeding as I planned."   
he thought.  
  
He limped away, putting Heresy back in its sheath.  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting silently inside his cramped bioengineering workstation,   
Technuma Saturn stared at the four screens displaying the data he   
collected from his daughter`s brain structure.  
  
He just couldn`t see what could have possibly gone wrong. Everything   
was set just right, using his tried and tested neural sculpting   
devices, the Prime`s proven subconscious learning systems, Technara`s   
infallible computer terminals, Litechnae`s incorruptible softwares...   
nothing had been left to chance.  
  
These seizures made no sense.  
  
Technuma wondered if there might have been something he`d forgotten   
to take into account. He was sure that for some reason, something   
slipped away unnoticed.  
  
He tried to grasp it, but the more he wracked his brain trying to   
access the more fleeting memories of his younger days when he first   
learned about bioconstruction, but it just made his head hurt even   
more.  
  
Suddenly, he felt more relaxed. The soothing presence of the greyish   
ancient one always had this presence on him, so he suspected that he   
might be entering his genetics lab for a visit.  
  
"Hello, elder one. I didn`t hear you come in my lab." he said with a   
smile, stretching out of the bubble shaped workspace. Surely enough,   
there was the Prime, concerned with his young creation. Technuma   
wasn`t exactly young after many thousand years of continued   
existence, but on a cosmic scale he was still a teenager.  
  
The Prime frowned in an expression of deep concern.  
  
"You`re right, I have been pushing myself a lot." replied Technuma   
to the ancient one`s telepathic "message". The Prime never spoke,   
and his telepathy was an usual form of the lost psionic art;   
whenever he wanted you to know something, you just did. No words   
or images actually entered your mind, you just knew.  
  
The Prime smiled and brushed his large hand in the guradian`s hair.   
From his eight feet of height, he towered over him.  
  
"I am feeling kind of tired, I`ll work better once I`ve had sleep."   
he agreed with the Prime`s silent question, leaving for his quarters.  
  
The Prime watched him leave, pleased that the guardian was not   
hurting himself with the painful secrets locked in his head.  
  
He took a look inside the tiny workstation, observing at the flow of   
data on the multiple screens. With the flik of a switch, he turned   
it off.  
  
* * *  
  
Hidden in the confines of his miserable slum appartment, Gallagher   
carefully removed his clothes. His strong muscled body had taken a   
beating the likes of which he didn`t think was possible to be coming   
from a human fighter. He began the slow healing process that would   
allow him to continue on his quest. Meditation and energy reflux   
would do the trick, given enough time.  
  
* * *  
  
In the private hospital room paid for by her parents, Minako laid   
in deep coma halfway between life and death. Beeping monitors keep   
her heartbeat, blood pressure and brain activity in check. The sight   
of the beautiful young girl on the brink of passing away was an awful   
one... especially to her girlfriend, Ami, who cried her heart out   
in Usagi`s arms.  
  
"Don`t worry, Ami, we`ll get him- he`ll die for this, I promise!"   
swore Makoto, anger burning in her heart. She clenched her fists   
until her fingers turned white and her nails dug deep into her flesh,   
drawing blood.  
  
Vengence floated in the air. No one was insensible to this tragedy,   
not the sweet Laurella or the friendly Chibi-Usa, not the level   
headed Rei or even the future seeing Setsuna.  
  
They wanted blood, and soon they would see it run.  
  
* * *  
  
All these memories of tragedy came flooding back to Usagi who   
remembered that her friend Minako was just a few doors away fighting   
for her life. She tried painfully to get up, but her kid brother   
stopped her.  
  
"Whoa! Sis, you`re in no shape to go anywhere!" he protested. Shingo   
suddenly found himself agreeing with Rei who told him that Usagi   
could be very annoying while regaining her lost memories. "Besides,   
your head is still full of holes like Luna`s!!!"  
  
"But Minako... she`s over there and..."  
  
"...and she`s being treated by the best doctors in the country!"   
completed Shingo. "Ami is standing by her side more time each day   
that her tired body can handle already as well."  
  
"But... what about Gallagher?" she asked.  
  
"It`s all over, Usagi. That battle`s over, and only you can tell   
us the outcome..." said Shingo.  
  
"If only I can remember it." finished Usagi, tears streaming down   
her face.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	20. Playing the Ball Where It Lands

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
one thousand years ago...  
  
  
He had flown the starship Firebolt thousands of times, on a wide   
variety of missions that varied from rescues, repair of substations,   
transports and observations. He had even flown it around the solar   
system while racing against Ramatech Jupiter or just to find an empty   
corner of space where he and his girlfriend Litechnae Venus wouldn`t   
be disturbed for a few hours.  
  
This time however, Noratech Neptune was on a different kind of   
mission.  
  
His teeth cringed as he followed the ion trail of the starship Quanta   
on his radar. He`d been hot on the ship`s trail all the way from   
Saturn Station Alpha. Six hours later and halfway across the solar   
system to the almost abandonned Deimos base.  
  
Noratech accessed the base`s logs through his flight computer, which   
confirmed that the Quantum was indeed docked there. He wanted to dock   
as well, but the shields were raised. He sat silently in the worn out   
pilot seat, staring at the small station gently floated around the   
small mars satellite in very regular elliptic orbits.  
  
With the push of a button, he accessed the comm system of the small   
base and addressed the man he had chased over such great distances.  
  
"I know you`re in there. I know what you`ve been through... hell,   
we`re bound by links that go beyond mere kinship- come out right now,   
the Prime can fix everything! These memories can be made to go away,   
you know that as well as I do!!!" he said.  
  
No response.  
  
"We can`t leave it at that, not in your condition! Come out right   
now and I promise you my personal protection!" added Noratech.  
  
Still no response.  
  
"Get out of there this instant, or Prime help me I`ll kill you where  
you stand!!!" he screamed into the microphone.  
  
As his only answer, he saw the shielding of Deimos base increase to   
full strenght.  
  
"Oh damn, why`d you have to do it like that?" he thought sadly. "I   
just have don`t any alternatives now."  
  
SETTING FORWARD WEAPONS TO MAXIMUM  
  
While he flicked a few switches to transfer power from engines to   
weapons, he hoped that maybe, just maybe, the shields would go down   
and the Quanta would dock out.  
  
WEAPONS READY  
  
Noratech looked at the weapon controls, then at the station, then   
weapon controls again. Time had run out. Time now to carry out his   
orders. Time for one of his own to die.  
  
WEAPONS LOCKED ON TARGET  
  
He pushed the red button. Two large spheres of red energy blazed   
through the void of space from the cannons of the Firebolt and made   
contact with the shields. Already weakened by centuries of use and   
decades of disuse, the derelict station forcefield cracked and   
buckled under the assault, shutting down in mere seconds where it   
once might have been able to withstand ten times more firepower for   
hours on end.  
  
Noratech fired again, hitting the base head on. The hull   
disintegrated on impact, opening a large hole in the power core.   
The ensuing detonation vaporized the entire space station.  
  
The starship Firebolt remained there immobile for many hours   
afterwards while Noratech held his face in his hands, sobbing   
silently.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 20  
  
PLAYING THE BALL WHERE IT LANDS  
  
  
"Hey, wake up! It`s time for breakfeast!" said Chibi-Usa with   
enthusiasm as the nurse arrived in the room to remove Usagi`s   
intravenous line. "You`ve got a good meal prepared, I made sure  
you`d like it, mommy!"  
  
The nurse showed total astonishment. This youthful looking woman was   
mother to this seven years old girl?  
  
"It`s just a nickname she has for me." lied Usagi. "Her parents had   
some big problems and she lived with me for a long time; we became   
very close to each other in that time."  
  
"Oh, that makes more sense! Otherwise I would have insisted on your   
telling me the name of your plastic surgeon..." she said, removing   
the long needle from Usagi`s bluish vein. This was a great relief.  
  
"Thanks." she said.  
  
"I came to tell you more of what happened that slipped your mind."   
said Chibi-Usa.  
  
Usagi waited until the nurse was gone, then nodded her daughter from   
the future to go on while she dug in her meal.  
  
"After Gallagher was trashed by Neptune and Venus was brought to the   
hospital, you and the others were hell bent on revenge... although   
some of you were calmer than others." explained the small lady,   
giving as much details as she could...  
  
* * *  
  
Inside Mamoru`s large appartment, the sailor scouts and senshi were   
united in a meeting to discuss a situation with dire possibilities.   
Mamoru and Shingo assisted as well, compensating somewhat for the   
absent Rei, Ami and Minako. Even Naru was there, concerned for the   
safety of her friends.  
  
"Okay, so what do we know about this Gallagher?" asked Makoto,   
clenching and unclenching her steel-hard fists in impatience.  
  
"He seems to be looking for the missing pieces of a broken sword, a   
weapon he calls 'Heresy'." said Michiru.  
  
"I say we use that to our advantage; find the pieces, for sure he`ll   
come to us!" said Haruka, her eyes gleaming with the anticipation   
of a rematch.  
  
"Is that a good idea? Fighting off an opponent we know nothing about?   
To me, that spells certain defeat!" objected Laurella.  
  
"Hey, Michiru beat the crap out of him single-handed!" replied   
Makoto.  
  
"Only because she had soul power. There`s only two of us that have it   
so far, that hardly evens out things against such an enemy."   
commented Usagi, whose mood was more sullen than usual.  
  
"I hate to admit this, but she`s right..." conceded Haruka, rubbing   
her throat, still very sore from her nearly fatal strangulation.  
  
"Besides, that one attack left me drained. If I`d missed, the four   
of us would have died at his hands for sure." mentionned Michiru.  
  
"I don`t care about his stupid powers of the darkness of the heart   
or whatever he claims to have, I`ll rip his arms off and stick his   
heresy where the inquisition doesn`t shine!!!" yelled Makoto in   
fury.  
  
"ENOUGH!!!" screamed Luna in her commanding voice. "We all want to   
stop him, granted- but getting killed won`t bring back Minako from   
her coma!"  
  
"She`s right. We have to find out exactly who she is... even as we   
speak, Rei is proceeding to a fire reading. Any info she can get   
would help us." added Artemis.  
  
"Since we don`t know what Gallagher`s true motives are, we must work   
under the assumption that Minako is still in danger; we`ll have to   
relay keeping guard over her hospital room." continued Luna.  
  
"Which brings another problem; Ami is totally crushed from Minako`s   
condition, she`s incapable of helping us right now and we need her   
laptop to figure out where the other pieces of that black sword might  
be." observed Michiru.  
  
"Is there anyone else in this city with computer skills enough to   
actually use that laptop?" asked Mamoru.  
  
"In know a few." suggested Naru. "But there`s only one I would trust   
with our secret."  
  
* * *  
  
Waking up in the middle of Saturn Station Beta`s simulated night,   
Technuma Saturn felt empty on the inside again. The Prime`s presence   
soothed him for a while, but these bouts of uncertainty had been   
getting closer and closer for the past few centuries now, striking  
as often as each time he left the station, or if he wasn`t in close   
proximity of the ancient being.  
  
He wanted the Prime to soothe his tortured soul again so that he may   
sleep better, but didn`t want to disturb the inner peace of the   
Prime... was there anything that could disturb the calm of his   
creator? Then again, only a truly peaceful mind could emerge from   
the millions of hours of meditation he had experienced over the   
millenia. Technuma was grateful that this inner peace was   
transferrable somehow.  
  
Unable to sleep, he plunged back into his efforts towards solving   
Robin`s crippling epilepsy. As far as he could tell, the puzzle was   
missing a critical piece located in his faraway past.  
  
"Computer..." he called out.  
  
"Yes..." answered a low tone voice.  
  
"I need a file. A really old file. Search the files older than a   
thousand years." he said.  
  
"My archives predating the conflict against Beryl were severely   
damaged in the emergency backup from Saturn Station Alpha."   
replied the computer.  
  
"I know. Try to reconstruct any files you can salvage, ignore the   
irretrievable ones. Look for the following key words: neurones,   
synapses, neural web, epilepsy, seizure, bioengineering. Pay close   
attention to the medical files." said the guardian while staring at   
the ceiling over his bed.  
  
"Shall I add the words BREAKDOWN, REGENERATION and SYNDROME?" asked   
the computer.  
  
"Yeah, good idea."  
  
"The search will take a few seconds, please be patient."  
  
"A few seconds only? I expected it would take weeks!" said Technuma.  
  
"I have spent the past few months reconstructing the archive files in   
my spare time in case you ever asked me this request." answered the   
computer.  
  
"Clever system!" complimented the guardian.  
  
"Here`s the results: 1200354 files contained any or all the keywords,   
17883 had medical or biological references to them, 340217 were   
irretrievable and one was denied access."  
  
"Huh? Denied access?"  
  
"Yes. It is encrypted with level four scramble."  
  
"Decrypt it. Autorization: Technuma one. Password: Robin and Hotaru."   
said Technuma.  
  
"Decryption denied. Insufficient security. Access to file named   
'Queen`s Gambit' is still unautorized." objected the computer.  
  
"This is not right. Why would this one file be locked out?" wondered   
the guardian. He wasn`t going to find the answer through the voice   
command terminal in his quarters, so he put on his uniform and headed   
for the main control room.  
  
* * *  
  
Four floors down, the Prime was having some difficulties of his own.   
Sitting at the largest of the twelve seats of his conference room   
table, he was staring in his usual silence at the hologramatic   
comparative display of two DNA strands.   
  
The automated door opened in front of him across the table; the   
Prime watched the athletic silhouette of Litechnae Venus entering   
the room.  
  
"It`s pretty late, you know." she said, fighting off a loud yawn.   
"This better be good."  
  
The ancient greyish skinned being motionned her to come to him and   
sit in the chair next to him. He was a very intimidating being,   
seeing as he stood over eight feet tall. Even sitting down, he was   
still taller than the delicate Litechnae. He pointed towards the   
table`s built-in holodisplay.  
  
"I may have designed the program for comparing the dna strands, but   
I`m not Technuma. What am I looking at, exactly?" she asked.  
  
The Prime pushed a few buttons and started the comparison sequence   
which gave a hundred percent match result. He frowned slightly as   
he "spoke" his mind to the guardian.  
  
"Yes, I agree that this dna recovered from Deimos base does match   
the one we had on file. That`s not surprising, since Noratech   
blasted the place with him still inside." she commented.  
  
Pushing more buttons, the Prime enlarged the search patterns to   
encompass not only the one percent of the strand that defines the   
specific humanoid genome, but also the remaining ninety-nine percent   
of inert nucleotide coding resulting from billions of years of   
evolution. This search would take a lot longer, though, so the   
Prime turned to the young looking woman, taking a more neutral   
expression.  
  
"Yes..." she answered to the unspoken question. "...I did set the   
default setting to the human genome only search to cut down runtime.   
How could that make any difference?"  
  
The difference was rapidly obvious. Nucleotide sequencing of the   
Deimos sample revealed one blaring mistake after only fifteen   
seconds of comparative search. Then another. And another. And a   
thousand more, these mistakes piling up in a senseless fashion.  
  
The result of the comparison was horribly simple to understand:   
this dna recovered by Noratech was a clever fake, designed to fool   
a system into believing that this was actual living tissue.  
  
And it had worked to perfection.  
  
"Does this mean the traitor is still alive?" she asked with her   
increasingly shaking voice.  
  
"We can only assume he is." said Noratech as he joined them and sat   
across the room.  
  
"This is bad. The whole timetable is endangered." said Litechnae.  
  
"The timetable? Try the whole agenda!!!" replied Noratech. "Whatever   
happens, we have to try and keep things looking like business as   
usual. We can`t afford to have more trouble like last time that   
happened... I`m not killing my brethren again, you can count on   
that."  
  
The expression on the Prime`s face again, a visual clue that he was   
"addressing" his two guardians directly.  
  
"It`s agreed then. I`ll take care of the hands-on business myself,   
Litechnae will keep an eye on Technuma." said Noratech Neptune,   
twirling in his fingers the long blonde ponytail which ran down   
his back all the way to his waist.  
  
Litechnae`s face went pale white with fear. The others wondered   
what she might be holding back, so the Prime "asked" her.  
  
"I ran across Technuma on my way here... he was heading to the core   
archives, mumbling about an encrypted file... I think he might have   
stumbled on *Queen`s Gambit*..." she said nervously.  
  
The Prime stood up in all his majesty, towering over his two   
guardians. He gave some instructions to Noratech without saying a   
word and left them alone in the room. Once they were alone, Noratech   
stood up and walked towards Litechnae.  
  
"So let me get this straight... not only do you program a major flaw   
into the software we relied on to tell if the renegade was indeed   
dead, but you also messed up the destruction of our most sensitive   
file which found its way to Technuma Saturn somehow?" he asked her,   
slowly bending over to level his eyes with hers.  
  
She did not answer, looking away in shame.  
  
Noratech slapped her hard, stinging her face very much and leaving a   
large red mark.  
  
"If this ends up sending Technuma down the spiral like it did the   
renegade, you`ll pay for that. I won`t allow anyone to screw up what   
the Prime has been planning all these thousands of years, not even   
my own mate!" he coldly said, then left her alone in the room, crying   
by herself like a child punished for not putting her toys away.  
  
In a way, she was just that.  
  
* * *  
  
"So what`s our first lead?" wondered Laurella as she followed her   
leader Sailor Moon down the stairs and out of Mamoru`s appartment   
building.  
  
"We go back to the museum. The cops have had the place sealed up   
for the duration of their investigation which will not turn up   
anything tangible as usual." said Usagi. "I believe they`ll most   
likely miss the most obvious clues left behind, as they always did   
in the past."  
  
As they walked out of the building`s front door, the two girls met   
with the very cheerful Robin Redwing. She`d been looking for Usagi   
for a few days now.  
  
"Hey, Usagi, where have you been since friday afternoon? We were   
supposed to go shopping together on saturday, remember? And what   
have you been doing all this time? I had to track you down to your   
fiancee`s place to find you!" said the gorgeous girl with the   
really short black hair.  
  
"I`ve been kinda busy... I`m really, really sorry, Robin... can we do   
this sometime later this week?" said Usagi, holding her hand behind   
her head in embarassment.  
  
"Okay, I`m busy today myself- I just wanted to make sure you were   
all right." said Robin. She scooted away.  
  
"She always seems to pop up when you least expect her. Just like   
Sailor Saturn... which reminds me, where DOES she fit in this   
Gallagher mess?" wondered Laurella as she picked up a pair of   
helmets from her motorcycle and handed one to Usagi.  
  
"Since she`s still a wildcard, we can`t put any stock in her   
showing up exactly when we`d like her to. For that matter, it`s   
not even sure whose side she`s on... we`ll have to be careful."  
  
* * *  
  
Naru opened her backpack and pulled out an ocean blue laptop adorned   
with the symbol of Mercury. Years of use had worn out the golden   
alchemical symbol to a dull yellowish grey. She placed it on the   
living room table in front of her boyfriend Umino. His eyes grew   
wide in disbelief.  
  
"WHERE did you get THAT?" he asked, bewildered. He opened it and was   
shocked to see it was indeed the real one. "It`s really Sailor   
Mercury`s computer, isn`t it?!?"  
  
"Yes. Can you operate it?" asked Naru.  
  
"That`s not the question. How did you get a hold of Sailor Mercury`s   
laptop? Doesn`t she need it herself?" he asked right back.  
  
Naru knew that Umino`s parents were away for the day and that he was   
an only child, so no one would walk in on them. Haruka, Michiru and   
Rei looked at each other and nodded. They would trust him with   
their secret.  
  
"URANUS STARPOWER MAKEUP!!!"  
  
"MARS STARPOWER MAKEUP!!!"  
  
"NEPTUNE SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!!!"  
  
The golden flash of the three girls changing into their sailor   
forms filled Umino`s home and blinded him for a second. When his   
eyes pierced through the intense light, he was stunned to see them   
becoming three of the heroes he`d heard so much about.  
  
"You girls are..." he started to say, the rest of the words hanging   
on his lips.  
  
"The sailor scouts." said Mars.  
  
"And I am now a sailor senshi." added Neptune.  
  
"So that explains the Captain Commando look..." thought Umino.  
  
"So you see, Umino, my friends are heroes who fight against   
unspeakable evils to defend us all." said Naru.  
  
"Even Usagi?" wondered the thick-glassed teenager.  
  
"ESPECIALLY Usagi. She`s Sailor Moon!" answered Naru.  
  
"Are you one too?"  
  
"No, but I manage to always get dragged into their battles somehow...   
but that`s besides the point. Minako, who`s really Sailor Venus, has   
been badly wounded by a maniac called Gallagher and her girlfriend   
Ami, who`s Sailor Mercury, is so totally crushed that she`s incapable   
of helping us. Can you make her computer work?"  
  
Umino took a more careful look at the keyboard and screen; he pushed   
his glasses up with his finger and squinted slightly in deep thought.  
  
"Yes, I believe I can." he said to the four girls` relief.  
  
* * *  
  
One motorcycle ride and a quick transformation later, Laurella and   
Usagi entered the museum five minutes after closing time. They snuck   
their way in discreetly, unaware of the third presence following them   
from a safe distance.  
  
Sailor Saturn had just entered the conflict, and would soon be   
getting much more than she`d bargained for.  
  
"This place looks even cooler when you`re alone!" commented Sailor   
Jendra. "It is pretty cold, though. This skirt is not exactly   
designed to help you cope with temperature controlled places like   
this one."  
  
Laurella couldn`t wait to get soul power like Usagi; not only would   
she get increased power and self-understanding, but she could finally   
switch the skirt and sleeveless shirt for the full body combat fuku.  
  
The room for exhibiting the odder pieces was in the exact state it   
had been left by the scouts and the newly revealed senshi Neptune.   
The only differences were the police tape to seal it up and the   
wooden board to close the shattered window which Gallagher had been   
catapulted out of.  
  
The statue pieces strewn across the floor were intriguing Sailor   
Moon. She started to observe them one at a time, convinced she could   
find something there.  
  
Sailor Jendra caught movement in her eye and decided to follow it-   
she was intrigued, wondering who that could be... yet somehow she   
knew it was Saturn. The mysterious scout had made the same sort of   
shadowing the first few times they`d met.  
  
"I`ll go see if it`s her, Sailor Moon." she whispered.  
  
"Be careful." said Usagi absent-mindedly, focused on the marble   
scraps.  
  
After a few minutes, she heard footsteps coming behind her.  
  
"So, was it Sailor Saturn you saw?" asked Moon without stopping her   
methodic search.  
  
"Not quite." answered a deep masculine voice.  
  
Her blood rushed through her veins, and she jumped to her feet like a   
cat, taking a combat stance to face the man who`d snuck up to her.   
Dressed all in black with matching cloak, hood and mask, for sure it   
was Gallagher.  
  
"I am the pretty soldier Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon   
I..." she started to claim.  
  
Gallagher interrupted her rudely.  
  
"Cut the battle chit-chat, I`m here to talk." he said.  
  
"I just wish Sailor Venus was here to talk with us as well!" said   
Sailor Moon with fireburning in her eyes.  
  
"I`m not interested in fighting you, moon child. Your soul is   
already a well tempered blade, I believe you call it Avenger." said   
Gallagher, referring to the moon senshi`s sacred weapon.  
  
"How do you do this? Find me so easily?" she wondered.  
  
"Easy. Your soul power is a beacon of spiritual strenght that I can   
home in." answered the masked man, showing the senshi a card with   
her picture on it. "What you are looking for is right over there,   
next to the stainglass shards. Let me point it out for you..."  
  
By simply pointing his gloved hand to the colored glass pieces, he   
made one of the pieces rise in the air and move right next to Sailor   
Moon at her eye level. It was no piece of glass, however. It was a   
refined piece of crystal, something like the moon kingdom might have   
used to store their data.  
  
"I recovered this little trinket from the twisted wreck of the   
Avatar, but I lost it on my way out of this place during my last   
visit... I believe Sailor Neptune told you all about this most   
unpleasant experience.Did you ever wonder why you and your friends   
always reincarnate and come back to life so conveniently? Fate?   
Destiny? Karma, or chance perhaps? I think not, young Sailor Moon.   
Or should I call you Moontype Female Genome Humanoid?" asked   
Gallagher. "Part of the answer is locked in there." he said,   
pointing to the crystal.  
  
As Sailor Moon looked at it and snatched it from its hovering   
position, she didn`t notice right away that Gallagher vanished-   
when she did, it was too late to stop him.  
  
She stared at the crystal, ans its contents was displayed into her   
mind in a telepathicly compatible form. The message had two parts:   
first, a long display of a detailed DNA sequence identified as   
MARSTYPE FEMALE GENOME HUMANOID MARK II. The second was an image   
of the guardian Technuma Saturn inside his long destroyed ship   
AVATAR, dictating an autopsy report.  
  
"Log entry number forty-seven, Sailor Mars has finally succumbed to   
her intensive second and third degree burns inflicted by Celeste,   
the demoted Sailor Mars. Regen-cloning of her replacement has already   
begun and will take approximately five to six days. Brain pattern  
copying will help assure that she does not realize this switch   
happened at all. Log entry end."  
  
"Oh dear god..." thought Usagi.   
  
This crystal might be a fake, but... what if it wasn`t? She couldn`t   
tell this to the others. Not right away.  
  
"I think it was her, but she ran off." said Jendra as she returned.   
"Found anything?"  
  
"No... nothing." lied Sailor Moon.  
  
They left.  
  
* * *  
  
"The signal leads here." said Umino, his eyes locked onto the digital   
screen of the borrowed computer. "Over there." he added, pointing to   
a mountain side buried under a very large rockslide.  
  
Stepping out of the bright red sportscar, the four girls and their   
somewhat geeky male friend walked down a grassy path leading to the   
small, featureless and wholly unremarkable mountain. Overall, this   
was truly the best place to hide a piece of the most remarkable   
weapon that was never forged in this galaxy.  
  
"I`m really proud of you, Umino. You managed to make this incredibly   
complicated machine work and you`re helping us fighting the most evil   
being we`ve ever faced." whispered Naru.  
  
"I`m just happy to be doing this by your side. I love you more than   
you can imagine." he whispered back, looking up from the computer   
just long enough to take a look at his girlfriend`s gleaming eyes.  
  
Following the two lovebirds a few steps behind, Michiru and Haruka   
were positively feeling quite amorous themselves; this walk through   
the small forest patch was reminding them of the nature treks they   
took in europe.  
  
Then came Rei, who felt a bit lonely all by herself, her boyfriend   
Yuuichiro being miles away in a musical tour that would keep him out   
of Tokyo for the next couple of months... at least. She was not   
totally alone, however, as the new life growing in her womb vibrated   
harmoniously with her own lifeforce. It made her feel... whole.  
  
"There it is." said Umino, halting before the mountainside.  
  
Huge mounds of rocks were stacked in apparent disorder, but hid a   
very well constructed barrier. No matter how much Sailor Uranus tried   
to move the boulders, not even the seemingly weakest would budge of   
a single inch.  
  
"No wonder no one ever found this sword... the pieces are impossible   
to find!!!" she finally said in a burst of frustrated anger.  
  
"Polar opposite could help us out here, don`t you agree, Sailor   
Mars?" asked Neptune.  
  
"I agree... FIRE SOUL!!!" screamed Mars, hurling a scorching   
fireball to the rock pile, superheating it to the brink of melting.  
  
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!!" completed Neptune, sending crashing a wave of   
cold water onto the white hot rocks; a loud cracking sound made   
itself heard and a wide fissure appeared.  
  
"My turn now..." said Haruka, smiling with a grin of vengeful   
wrath. She concentrated all of her willpower into her fist and stared   
to the wide fissure. "LET HER RIP!!!" she yelled as she smashed her   
fist with full force. The rock surface exploded violently, showering   
the others with a barrage of pebbles.  
  
"I just love doing that." said Uranus while her friends dusted   
themselves. "Releases stress, you know. Come on, let`s go get this   
metal piece!"  
  
* * *  
  
Ami was tired. Very tired. Her short dark blue hair was a mess and   
her clothes were wrinkled from the overextended use she`d made of   
them, but she wouldn`t go home and refresh herself. Not while her   
dear love Minako was still lost in the shrouds of her deep coma.  
  
The exhausted girl had been keeping watch for twenty-four hours   
straight now, sleeping on and off in the chair next to the hospital   
bed, although not nearly enough to recharge herself to full health.  
  
"Oh, Minako darling, please come back to us... find your way home!"   
she pleaded.  
  
Find your way home.  
  
These words found their way into the mind of the severely wounded   
girl. They pierced through the shadows and all the way in the deepest   
recesses of her psyche where Minako had taken refuge.  
  
An imaginary grassy field is truly a thing of wonder. Thick lush   
herb and wild flowers as far as the eye can see, deep blue skyes   
where thin pure white clouds slowly drifted along soft breezes that   
caress the skin.  
  
Somewhere in the middle of this paradise, Minako lay down sleeping.   
She was still wearing her sailor scout uniform, though it had   
known much hardship, ripped and torn to nothing more than a few   
shreds that failed to cover all but her most intimate areas.  
  
"Find your way home..." these words came, brushing her ears   
smoothly.  
  
So Minako began her long walk home. It would be a very long, lonely   
walk.  
  
* * *  
  
"This place is creeping me out!" commented Naru as the group walked   
inside a cave hidden for many centuries by the cleverly disguised   
rock wall.  
  
The tunnels lead to a large room, shaped as a huge dome. All around   
it at the exact positions of north, south, east and west rested four   
statues of hideous beasts. Though their shapes were all blasted in   
appearance and wicked in intent, they were all unmistakebly linked   
to one another for two clearly apparent reasons: they were all   
mounted with a strange looking saddles, and also they were all   
carved from the same material- dark marble, exactly like the one   
used to create the four hellish knights in the museum.  
  
In the middle of the dome was an altar. On it laid the next piece   
of Heresy.  
  
"Let`s just take it and leave. I`m not spending one more minute   
here, this place is emitting the most horribly oppressive aura   
I`ve ever felt!" said Rei.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella walked in on Usagi and her future daughter as she was   
explaining how the third piece of the black sword had been found.   
Her boyfriend Shingo followed her in and told Chibi-Usa that it  
was time for her to go home to get some sleep.  
  
"You won`t be alone for long, sis, we`ll keep you company a few more   
minutes until visiting hours are over. The doctor says you can even   
leave tomorrow morning!" said Shingo.  
  
Chibi-Usa hopped off the bed and walked out of the room to Rei who   
had come to pick her up.  
  
"Hello small lady." said Rei. "Had a good time with your mom?"  
  
"Yes, she`s remembering more and more now. Maybe she can even tell   
us what happened before that huge explosion." said the cute   
pink-haired girl. Turning around, she saw Usagi laughing along   
with her friend and her brother.  
  
A wave of sadness caught hold of her as she witnessed them so happy   
together. She could barely hold back her long supressed tears and   
sorrow. "I`m so sorry for what I`ve done to you, Laurella... you   
didn`t deserve it, neither did your love."  
  
"What`s the matter, Chibi-Usa? You look so sad!" said Rei, crouching   
down to her level.  
  
"I feel that... it`s just... hug me, Rei!" she said, tears rolling   
off her cheeks.  
  
Rei held the sweet child in her arms for a few moments. This felt   
good. This felt right, to both of them as though it had been missing   
from their existence somehow.  
  
They held each other like this until the nurse told them visiting   
hours were over.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	21. Choosing Your Side

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
One thousand years ago...  
  
  
"It`s ready." said Technara Mars as she stepped out of the starship   
Pegasus.  
  
"Did you take care of everything?" asked Ramatech Jupiter as he   
exited after her, carrying a boxful of disassembled drive parts.  
  
"Yes, I did. Stardrive, controls, thrusters, navigational computer...   
this ship is no more than a twenty tons paperweight now." she   
replied.  
  
"Then all that`s missing is the 'passenger'." commented Ramatech.  
  
"Go tell Noratech that all is in place, please... and would you find   
out if Technuma is recovering properly? I`ve seen him yesterday and   
quite frankly, I think the regeneration has affected him somehow."   
asked Technara.  
  
"Sure." said Ramatech as he dropped the box among the dozen others   
filled with many more dismantled system parts. He left Technara,   
knowing she was skilled enough to take care of final system settings.  
  
She opened a panel and accessed the ship`s core memory, writing the   
system protocol for its long term space journey. No one would ever   
change these settings again.  
  
"Technara..." she heard someone whisper. She turned around to see   
one of the moon kingdom`s royal guards. He wore the traditional   
golden armor and carried a matching halberd.  
  
"Ronmar? You shouldn`t be here. This has been difficult enough for   
you already, why do you insist on witnessing this as well?" asked   
Technara to the obviously distraught man.  
  
"How could you, Technara? How could you let her become what she   
became???" he asked, furious.  
  
"I did not let her become anything! If anything, maybe you should   
ask yourself if your daughter really was the woman you thought she   
was." replied Technara, an accusating look in her eyes.  
  
"I trusted you, Technara! I always heard of the Technum guardians as   
trustworthy allies, yet my beloved daughter commited the most   
horrible act in your name, because she felt that her victims did not   
live up to your expectations!!! You destroyed her life, Technara...   
YOU killed her!" screamed Ronmar, raising his weapon to strike down   
the guardian.  
  
His blow never even had a chance to land, a powerful bolt of Technum   
energy surging from the guardian`s hand and hitting Ronmar squarely   
in the chest, catapulting him a few feet away where he landed on his   
back. His armor had been blackened and twisted at the impact point,   
smoking slightly.  
  
"Don`t ever try anything like that again, Ronmar. If you step out   
of line just one more time, you`ll see exactly what I can do to   
you... no nightmare can equal the violence I am capable of if pushed   
into a corner."  
  
Ronmar painfully got back up on his feet, struggling to breathe.  
  
"I`ll show you nightmares..." he whispered. "You`ll regret what   
you`ve done, and so will your little protegees."  
  
The wounded soldier limped away, never to be seen again by the moon   
kingdom before it fell.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 21  
  
CHOOSING YOUR SIDE  
  
  
Usagi was feeling much better now. A few days of rest had done her a   
world of good physically, her skin and muscles having fully   
recovered from the wounds inflicted by the record cold that had   
wrapped Japan these past few weeks.  
  
Her mind was recovering nicely as well, the events having lead her   
to this uncomfortable situation returning to her one piece at a time.   
She was recalling more each day, although she wasn`t quite sure if   
she liked what she did remember.  
  
Now she remembered something that was making her shiver: for some   
reason, Gallagher`s words had been making some kind of sense to her   
after she`d spoken with him. That scared her a lot. But who could   
she talk to about this? For all she knew, she might have betrayed   
her friends and not remember about it... if she indeed had sided   
with Gallagher, she would only betray herself by speaking openly   
about it.  
  
She was going to have to recall more.  
  
Usagi entered the cramped hospital shower, wishing to get herself   
clean before breakfast. The warm water flowing to her skin felt   
heavenly, washing away her worries if only for a few minutes. She   
wrapped a towel around her body then left the shower to get dressed.  
  
As she was slipping on her jeans and shirt, she heard a knock at   
the door.  
  
"Hiya, Usagi, can I come in?" asked a familiar voice.  
  
"Robin?!? I didn`t expect you`d come!" said Usagi, hugging her good   
friend.  
  
"Last time I came by, you were knocked out cold by the sleeping   
pills... you were in a really bad shape, girl." said Robin.  
  
"Sorry I was such a lousy friend to visit, I wish I could have said   
something." said Usagi.  
  
"I`m used to it." said Robin. "It`s the same when I visit my dad..."   
said Robin, tears forming in her eyes.  
  
"Your dad`s here?" asked Usagi with concern.  
  
Robin nodded and pointed to the bed next to Usagi`s. The blonde girl   
then realized that she still hadn`t looked on the other side of the   
green curtain separating the room in two. She pulled the curtain and   
was in for a shock: plugged into a life support system was Robin`s  
father... Technuma Saturn!!!  
  
"HE`s your FATHER?!?" she said in total astonishment.  
  
"Yeah, don`t you remember?" asked Robin.  
  
"Then if he`s your father... does that mean..."  
  
"Yup. I`m Sailor Saturn." said Robin as though it was no big deal.  
  
"Robin... there`s something you should know..." said Usagi,   
hesitating.  
  
"You`re Sailor Moon, your fiancee is Prince Endymion, your brother`s   
the Emerald Knight and your friends are the scouts and senshi. I know   
all about that, dad programmed that knowledge in my brain when he   
created me."  
  
"Dear god, how did he end up here?" asked Usagi.  
  
"You still don`t remember that part?"  
  
"Not a clue, Robin."  
  
"Well, maybe we can discuss this over coffee." said Robin.  
  
"Isn`t that going to be painful for you?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"Probably. But it`s something I`m learning to live with."  
  
"Hey... why did you refer to my brother as Emerald Knight? And to   
Mamoru as Prince Endymion?"  
  
"It`s a long story. Pack your stuff and let`s go get something to   
eat." suggested Robin.  
  
* * *  
  
"It`s confirmed, Technuma did leave the station onboard the Avatar   
Mark II. I couldn`t stop him." said Litechnae to Noratech.  
  
"This is not good. We have to do something quick... have you erased   
that encrypted file yet?" asked Noratech.  
  
"No, I... I couldn`t find it."  
  
"WHAT? What do you mean, couldn`t find it?"  
  
"It just... vanished, swallowed whole by the central core main   
archive! It makes no sense, it just came to the surface last night   
and sank right back in!" said Litechnae.  
  
"This is all falling apart. Technuma is out of control and he could   
infect the others too. Okay, here`s what we`ll do: I`ll handle the   
Technuma situation, while you take care of isolating the others. If   
I fail to contain Saturn, at least he won`t contaminate the rest of   
the guardians." explained Noratech.  
  
"Where do you think he is?" asked Litechnae.  
  
"Earth. Where else would he go?"  
  
* * *  
  
The Avatar Mark II screeched towards the earth at full speed.   
Technuma hadn`t been able to decrypt his file on the station, but he   
was sure that somehow the answer laid in the hands of the sailor   
girls.  
  
He just wasn`t sure exactly which one.  
  
* * *  
  
Gallagher stood atop a small, unremarkable mountain in the the   
country several dozen miles outside of Tokyo. He knew well how there   
was a piece of his sword Heresy hidden underneath the huge piece of   
rock. He also knew that a group of teenagers was picking it up even   
now.  
  
He knew it all too well, he could feel the presence of Sailor   
Neptune. Her soul power was singing to him, delicious sounds of a   
mind elevated to the greatest peaks of human perfection. Gallagher   
looked at his cards. The images of Sailor Moon and Neptune were   
glowing on two of them, while a third fuzzy image was starting to   
appear slowly on another.  
  
He could easily swoop down with all of his power flaring in a   
surprise strike against them, but he wasn`t going to do that. The   
battle for this new piece of Heresy wouldn`t be won through violence   
this time.  
  
The red sports car speeded away in the distance. Gallagher let it   
go. He`d get the fractured piece in the end. The call of Heresy   
would be heeded and the Philistine would arise to meet its destiny.  
  
* * *  
  
"Okay, so what do you think?" asked Mamoru to Shingo.  
  
"Yeah, I`ve been thinking of doing something like that myself. You   
already have the Endymion persona to fall back on, but I`ll have to   
come up with something original." agreed Shingo.  
  
"So it`s decided then. We upgrade our own appearances to be more up   
to date with the girl`s new looks?"  
  
"It`s agreed."  
  
Standing watch over Makoto`s room was a bit boring to the two young   
men, so they had gotten into the idea of changing their alternate   
identity`s appearances. Kitechnum Jendra was severely out of date   
by over a millenium and Tuxedo Kamen was a bit corny, to say the   
least.  
  
"Any ideas?" asked Mamoru.  
  
"It`s a coin toss between GREEN AVENGER or EMERALD KNIGHT."  
  
"Sailor Moon`s sword is named Avenger." observed Mamoru.  
  
"Then Emerald Knight it is."  
  
A splitting headache struck Shingo again. This one wasn`t quite as   
bad as the others, but what it lacked in pain it made for in range,   
reverberating throughout his whole skull and into the base of his   
neck.  
  
"Are having another one of those migraines? This can`t be good for   
you." said Mamoru.  
  
"Can`t help it. Whenever my powers increase, I get one of those.   
Each time I use my powers a lot, I get one too. Sometimes it just   
happens for no reason." said Shingo, but he was lying. He knew that   
something inside his head was trying to get out, to resurface. He   
felt that whatever this was, it had been buried for a reason and   
fought it hard with all he had, hence the migraine.  
  
Fighting these resurging memories had been getting harder ever   
since that Gallagher had shown up...  
  
* * *  
  
Back at Haruka and Michiru`s place, Usagi met with her friends who`d   
just returned from their succesful expedition.  
  
"Between Rei`s intuition and Umino`s computer smarts, it wasn`t hard   
to find." said Naru.  
  
"Can I see it?" asked Usagi to Naru.  
  
"Of course." she said. She opened her shoulder bag and took out a   
heavy metal piece wrapped in a silk scarf of Michiru`s.  
  
The dark metal glinted in an ominous fashion under the sunlight. It   
fascinated Usagi.  
  
"It`s incredible. That Gallagher would do so many evil acts just to   
get his hands on it." she said.  
  
"There`s something I still don`t get. What does he plan to do with   
this sword? It`s not like he could conquer the world or destroy it.   
And if it`s killing us he wants... he already has the power to do   
it." said Michiru.  
  
"Here, Usagi, hide it somewhere safe." said Haruka, closing   
rewrapping the sword fragment and handing it over to Usagi.  
  
"Thank you. I`ll take care of it." she said.  
  
Deep down inside, Usagi knew that this would help her get the   
answers she wanted so badly.  
  
"If you`ll excuse me, I have to go meet my friend Robin... I`ve let   
her down already because of this mess, I`d hate to leave her hanging   
again." she said, putting the piece of Heresy in her backpack.  
  
"Be careful out there." said Naru.  
  
"Thanks Naru, but I think this whole situation is beyond careful."   
replied Usagi. She left.  
  
"Don`t you think Usagi has been acting... strangely?" whispered   
Haruka to Michiru.  
  
"Yes, she has... I believe we might do well to see where she`s   
going." replied Michiru.  
  
* * *  
  
High atop a large appartment building he bought several months   
before, Technuma Saturn landed his cloaked starship on the highly   
reinforced roof. Although his actual penthouse appartment only   
occupîed a single floor, he`d bought the whole building so that he   
could land his ship without being worried about other tenants   
feeling the vibrations of his landings and takeoffs.  
  
Technuma stepped out of the ship and took a look around, admiring   
the Tokyo landscape under the sunset light.  
  
"I love this place. I`m glad my dear Robin lives here." he thought.  
  
He opened the door leading to the staircase, and walked down towards   
the fifth floor. Technuma felt weird; like the answer he sought was   
close at hand. He started running down the stairs, in a real hurry   
to find out what he`d been missing all that time.  
  
At the door of his penthouse, he found his daughter curled up in a   
ball shivering in fear.  
  
"Robin? What`s going on, honey?" he asked.  
  
Trembling, she looked at him with her terrified gaze.  
  
"Inside, dad... there`s someone... you have to see..." she said,   
holding on to Technuma.  
  
"I`ll go see..." he said, worried. His daughter had faced demons,   
knightmares and kitlings already, who could possibly scare her that   
much?  
  
He opened the door and looked inside. Near total darkness greeted   
him, but he dared not turn on the lights for fear of giving out his   
presence too soon to whoever was there. He made his way to the living   
room where he thought he heard the crackling sound of his leather   
sofas.  
  
Indeed, through what little light he had, the mighty guardian could   
see the silhouette of a man wearing black clothes sitting   
comfortably, his feet resting on the coffee table right next to a   
delicately carved chess set.  
  
"All too many people disregard the importance of the queen`s gambit   
tactic." said the stranger. "They feel that the price is too great   
in regards to the potential benefits. I disagree. For achieving   
victory, no price is too great."  
  
Technuma approached him carefully, feeling that maybe this man could   
help him as well. He stared at his eyes, the only part of his face   
not covered by his mask.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
The masked man smiled under his mask.  
  
"I`m Gallagher." he said. "Let`s talk."  
  
* * *  
  
"Whoa, wait a minute... you mean to tell me that this Gallagher   
actually had business with Technuma Saturn?!?" asked Usagi to Robin.  
  
"They certainly did. I don`t know how long they talked like that   
before I ran off looking for you." explained Robin.  
  
"You already knew about me and the scouts, did you?"  
  
"Like I said, dad programmed me subconsciously while I was growing   
in the bioengineering tank. I knew all about the scouts and the moon   
kingdom before I was even born."  
  
"I was just on my way to see you, if I remember this well... hey,   
it is coming back, isn`t it?" commented Usagi.  
  
"I have no idea what they spoke about, but I don`t think that it   
was very amicable because the following events were less than   
peaceful." continued Robin.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi walked along towards her friend Robin`s place unaware of being   
followed by two of her friends. Maybe it was because it was getting   
dark and the street lights hadn`t kicked in just yet. Maybe it was   
because Haruka and Michiru were so talented at shadowing people   
after months of tracking pure hearts for talismans that were part   
of the holy grail.  
  
It was neither. Her mind was so absorbed with hesitation and   
self-doubt that she was totally oblivious to anything going on   
around her. She couldn`t see them if they had been wearing bells  
and tossing firecrackers in her direction.  
  
Ever since she acquired her soul powers, Usagi hadn`t been the same.   
Her personality had been slowly changing towards something unlike   
anything she`d ever been before. From the chirpy, easy-going, fun   
loving teenager everyone knew, she was turning rapidly into a   
sullen, sulking and broody curmudgeon. No one had really noticed   
at first, but the recent conflict against Gallagher had brought out   
the worst in her- her mental transformation had accelerated beyond  
what any psychiatrist would consider to be a normal evolution   
process.  
  
Things were pretty bad at this point- Haruka was even beginning to   
question Usagi`s loyalty. Michiru did not doubt it, however, as she   
couldn`t bear the thought of such a kind hearted girl betraying her   
friends... and the whole of humanity.  
  
"Usagi!!! I need your help right away!!!" yelled Robin who was   
running down towards Usagi from the opposite direction.  
  
Usagi snapped out of her dazed state and ran to meet her friend.  
  
"What`s going on?" she asked.  
  
"My dad`s in trouble, I need your help defending him!" answered   
Robin, shacking like a leaf.  
  
"Shouldn`t you call the police? I`m just a teenage girl like you!"  
  
"That`s what I`m counting on... Sailor Moon!" whispered Robin.   
"Gallagher`s found out where my dad lives while he`s residing in   
Tokyo... he needs us right now!!!"  
  
The shock of Robin knowing about both her being Sailor Moon and of   
Gallagher`s existence were more than enough to silence Usagi from   
the sheer surprise. She let herself get dragged into a frantic race   
by Robin who crushed her wrist in a steel grip born of her excessive   
stress.  
  
"How do you know so much?" finally asked Usagi. "And who`s your   
dad, anyway?"  
  
Usagi got her answer when the two girls (and the two shadowing   
figures behind them) arrived at the front door of the luxurious   
appartment building where Robin lives. An explosion of dark blue   
energy ripped most of its front wall as two fighting men were   
propelled into the air along with a shower of concrete and metal   
shards.  
  
The blonde girl didn`t take too long to put two and two together:   
Gallagher was fighting no other than Technuma Saturn- and winning.   
  
"DAD! I`m not going to let that bastard kill you!!!" screamed Robin.  
  
This could only mean one thing, thought Usagi. If Technuma Saturn was   
Robin`s father, then...  
  
"SATURN STAR POWER MAKEUP!" yelled Robin, producing a small   
transformation pen marked with the symbol of saturn. Her silk shirt   
and skirt were torn apart and replaced with the uniform of Sailor   
Saturn.  
  
"...YOU`RE SAILOR SATURN?!?" said Usagi in total astonishment.  
  
"Are you gonna transform yet, or do you need an invitation?" asked   
Saturn.  
  
"Oh yeah, right... MOON SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!" yelled Usagi; a   
golden glow radiated from her whole body, shredding her clothes and   
covering her with the full senshi fuku, then adding the visor,   
shin guards and forearm guards.  
  
"Let`s finish this right here, Gallagher!" taunted Saturn.  
  
"Close your eyes, little Saturn." said Gallagher as he painfully got   
back to his feet alongside Technuma.  
  
"What...?" she started to ask, barely having enough time to ward off   
the sudden burst of flashing light emitted by Gallagher`s hand.   
Robin was the only one not blinded by the flash, thus averting the   
inevitable seizure that would have struck her. Even the charging   
Sailor Uranus and Neptune were caught off guard.  
  
"The end is near- the call will be answered!" said Gallagher as he   
struck Technuma with his sword, shoving the incomplete Heresy deep   
within his left shoulder.  
  
"You bastard... SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!" yelled Robin as crimson   
wings of energy formed under her arms and sent a flurry of feather   
shaped projectiles towards the man who wounded her father. The masked   
man was hit full force, flying back several feet. Getting back up,   
he stared Robin in the eyes... and fled.  
  
"You`re not getting away from me!!!" she said as she sprinted in   
pursuit.  
  
Sailor Moon rushed over to the bleeding guardian, as well as Sailor   
Uranus and Neptune. At this point, she didn`t even want to know HOW   
they knew where to find her. These two lovebirds had a knack of   
always being at the right place at the right time, Sailor Moon had   
learned to accept this without question.  
  
"Don`t stick around here, Saturn will get killed all by herself!!!"   
pleaded Sailor Moon.  
  
"Don`t worry, we`ll help her out!" said Neptune.  
  
"Yeah, I have an axe to grind with that basic black bastard!!!"   
added Uranus in an increasing blood fury.  
  
"Why... don`t you just... go join them?" said Technuma, breathing   
heavily.  
  
"You need me to pull that out of your shoulder... besides, I know   
more than you realize. I can help you beat Gallagher at his own   
game!" she whispered, as she grabbed the handle of Heresy and pulled.  
  
Dark energy surged through the broken dark metal sword, shocking both   
the young senshi and the wounded guardian. When she finally managed   
to pull it out, the energy subsided.  
  
"Geez, no wonder Gallagher is ready to kill to get his hands on that   
gizmo!" commented Usagi, dropping the sword down in a loud clanking   
noise to massage her cramped arms. Technuma ripped one of his   
sapphire blue uniform sleeves to improvise a bandage.  
  
A strong bone chilling wind arose suddenly, freezing both of them on   
the spot.  
  
"Whoa, that`s cold for late october!" commented Usagi as she helped   
Technuma up.  
  
"Wouldn`t know. Spend most of my time on the station." replied   
Technuma.  
  
"Funny you should mention that place, that`s where we`re going right   
now." said Sailor Moon, a grin forming on her face.  
  
The senshi dragged Technuma into the war-torn building to reach the   
top floor where the guardian kept his cloaked ship.  
  
From a distance, the jittery Noratech Neptune looked at them leave.   
He let them as he had more pressing matters to attend to. Coming to   
earth, his original idea had been to convince his collegue to return   
to the station without making a fuss. Saturn was doing that on his   
own.  
  
Then, he had seen him. The rebel. The traitor. He couldn`t see his   
face because of the mask, but he knew it was HIM, he could feel his   
raw energy, it had a certain feel to it he remembered from tracking   
it down a thousand years before. It had been a long time since, but   
having to hunt and kill one of his own was not something he would   
ever forget.  
  
And now he`d have to do it all over again, except that this time   
he`d be returning with a corpse in a body bag rather than just DNA   
scraps.  
  
* * *  
  
The way home was a long one indeed. Minako had been walking   
tirelessly for what seemed like years now. The endlees plains did   
in fact come to an end, only to make way for a deep blue ocean that   
stretched all the way into the horizon. The horizon... that`s where   
she needed to go, ever forward where the heavens met the earth...   
she heard that somewhere in a poem or a song, she couldn`t remember   
which one exactly.  
  
All she knew is that she needed to go there, to become more that   
she was.  
  
She plunged into the surprisingly warm waters and swam. Her torn   
scout uniform finally gave way, ripping off her now naked body. This   
felt wonderful to Minako, and she went deeper and deeper in the   
crystal clear waters, feeling no need to breathe...  
  
* * *  
  
Returning from the hospital along with Mamoru, Shingo`s migraine   
was getting worse and worse.  
  
"What`s happening to me?" he thought, holding his head in his hands   
as the pain tore it apart.  
  
"Something`s wrong, you need help right now!!!" said Mamoru, holding   
him from collapsing.  
  
"Someone needs help all right... Technuma is here, and Gallagher`s   
closeby!!!" he said, flashes of lightning going across his eyesight.  
  
"Are you sure???"  
  
"Yeah, they`re not too far... can you drive over to Robin`s place?"  
  
* * *  
  
Pressing his hand to the hull`s lock control, the Avatar Mark II`s   
door opened with a soft whirring sound. Sailor Moon helped Technuma   
inside where she lead him into the cockpit. The guardian crashed   
heavily into the pilot seat, a raging storm of pain tearing his   
shoulder.  
  
"Okay, head for Saturn Station Beta." ordered Sailor moon.  
  
"Aren`t you going to step off the ship before I do?"  
  
"No. You do want to stop Gallagher from getting the last piece to   
THIS, don`t you?" she replied, showing him the incomplete Heresy.  
  
As a silent response, Technuma started the engines of his ship and   
fired the thrusters; within seconds, the starship was soaring   
through the atmosphere and out of earth`s orbit, heading towards   
saturn.  
  
"What`s your plan?" asked Technuma, replacing his improvised bandage   
with a compact dermal generator patch whose design he came up with   
over sixteen hundred years ago. Some classics just never died.  
  
"Simple. We go in and get the last piece." she explained.  
  
"Are you telling me that the last piece of that sword... of the only   
weapon more powerful than the Prime himself... is actually hidden   
RIGHT NEXT TO HIM???"  
  
"Hidden right under the guardians` collective noses. Not a bad   
hiding place, wouldn`t you say?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"That still doesn`t explain why you absolutely insisted on going all   
the way over just to tell me that... couldn`t you have told me while   
we were still down there, save you the trouble of hauling yourself   
halfway across the system?!?" asked Technuma.  
  
As he finished asking his question, Technuma felt Sailor Moon`s arm   
grasping his head firmly while the cold sharp crystal blade of   
Avenger was being placed against his throat.  
  
"Because I want answers and I want them now!!!" said Sailor Moon in   
a commanding voice. "For starters, how the hell did you convince   
Technuma to go along with your intricate plan, Gallagher darling?"  
  
The expression on the guardian`s face changed radically... from the   
smooth, calculating Technuma, the man held in respect by Sailor   
Moon`s sacred weapon took on the menacing grin of the mysterious man   
who so much enjoyed talking in apocalyptic verses.  
  
"It`s wasn`t too complicated, seeing how our souls are the shards of   
the same fractured spirit... why do you think me and Technuma have   
the same face?!?" answered Gallagher, smiling like a maniac. "How   
about you let me go so that I can dock into station, little senshi?"  
  
  
To be continued...  



	22. Karmageddon

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
One thousand years ago...  
  
  
Technuma Saturn had always been a model of patience and self-control   
to all guardians, calm and reserved to the point of attracting the   
constant (if somewhat playful) teasings of the more emotionally   
expressive Technulis Mercury. His cold outside was only one of the   
many layers of serenity surrounding his centered spirit and peaceful   
mind.  
  
Until now.  
  
The carefully stacked layers of his mind had crumbled into dust that   
tragic night when Laurella and Kitechnum had died under his very   
eyes, his Technum healing techniques failing miserably to bring back   
the life Sailor Mars had stolen from them. Centuries of meditation  
alongside the Prime had collapsed in the blink of an eye,   
transforming the serene healer into a killing machine hell-bent on   
getting bloody retribution.  
  
Vengence would be his, and soon.  
  
He could smell her, the ionized air particles track left by the   
Technum ladden fire-haired girl was giving her away more surely   
than the strong spicy perfume she loved so much to wear.  
  
All the way from the moon, he followed her, all the way to the most   
inaccessible reaches of the mars mountain ranges of the southern   
hemisphere. Celeste was attempting to ditch him and reach her home,   
but that would not save her. Neither would the other guardians find   
her in time to protect her from Technuma`s erupting rage.  
  
There she was, tired from the trip hidden in a trade ship cargo bay,   
exhausted from running so much to stay away from him, he actually   
SAW her limping her way along the mountain trail, foolishly believing   
she`d escaped.  
  
Not so. Technuma smiled for the first time in days, but not a smile   
of joy, a deadly grin of murderous intent. He stopped running and   
started charging his hands with the greatest amount of raw power he   
had ever used in his long existence. Celeste was going to die by his   
hands.  
  
Either by intuition or dumb luck, Celeste happened to be turning   
around when the huge sappphire blue bolt of Technum screeched in her   
direction with lethal precision. Her athletic training saved her   
life as she leapt out of the way a split second away from a more   
than certain death.  
  
The soaring bolt continued on its trajectory after missing its   
target, colliding three seconds later with the red bedrock of   
another nearby mountain. The noise from the explosion alerted a   
young girl close by that something was happening nearby.  
  
Fear fueled Celeste`s stamina into resuming her frantic race,   
ignoring the pain of her scraped hands and knees. Blood spurted   
from her open wounds, sending the mad guardian into a crazed frenzy.   
He would not stop until her blood stained his hands and her bones   
were shattered.  
  
As much as she was energized by terror, this newfound endurance   
didn`t last very long. Barely three of four minutes later, the   
disgraced Sailor Mars was running on empty again. Feeling her angel   
of death moving in for the kill, she began to wonder what the hell   
she was thinking when she planned her energy drain on Kitechnum   
Jendra and Laurella... the rush of pure power had lasted only an   
instant, releasing itself out of her control within seconds. It was   
all so clear back then, beautiful in its magnitude, glorious in its   
implications. Now, her head was screwed on straight again and   
looking back upon all this, she saw nothing but utter madness.  
  
She had become a runaway criminal sought after by half of the solar   
system, a renegade with nowhere left to go. Except maybe one place,   
the only place where she had always felt safe no matter what happened   
in her life.  
  
Home. She knew her father would be there, as he usually was this   
time of year. The captain of the third division of her majesty   
Serenity`s riyal guards.  
  
"Ronmar will protect me!" she thought.  
  
Just as Technuma almost reached her, she couldn`t run anymore. Her   
legs were wracked by the most painful cramps she ever felt, worse   
than those incurred by her first hyper endurance marathon. She   
collapsed on the rough rock mountain path, knowing for sure that   
this time she couldn`t cheat fate.  
  
But then again, fate doesn`t always expect of you what you might   
believe it will. That is why the barely conscious Celeste saw above   
her the silhouette of a young teenage girl she knew better than   
anyone in the galaxy, better still than even the other scouts.  
  
Her kid sister Rei.  
  
Seeing how the frenzied guardian was going to kill her sister, she   
interposed herself between them. Standing her ground, she refused to   
see harm come to her sister... regardless of what she heard that   
Celeste might have done.  
  
"Step aside, Rei, it`s not you I`m after!" warned the furious   
guardian.  
  
"NO!" said Rei, crouching down to hug her older sister in a   
protective fasion. "She`s always been there for me in the past, and   
this time I`m doing the same... if you want to kill her, you`ll have   
to murder us BOTH!" she added with tears forming in her eyes.  
  
"She killed in cold blood, justice must be served!" said Technuma,   
charging Technum in his hands again, pointing them towards the two   
sisters.  
  
"Justice... or your personal vendetta? Will another murder bring   
back the dead???" pleaded Rei.  
  
Technum supercharged in Technuma`s hand, preparing the fatal blow-   
but he hesitated. Why was it that he still felt something for that   
assassin? Was it the undying sistership bond between these two girls,   
or the sight of Celeste curled up in a ball crying her heart out   
without restraint?  
  
The thundrous roar of the starship Pegasus screamed above their   
heads, marking the arrival of Noratech Neptune come to stop him from   
killing Celeste in a brash impulse. Technuma looked back upon his   
inability to save the lives of those he cared about the most. He`d   
already lost his good friend Technazul Terra, and now Kitechnum was   
gone... he was the only left to know the truth. Maybe that was why   
he felt so guilty about still being alive and having done nothing  
to stop the real menace to the silver millenium. Maybe that was why   
he was trying so hard to kill Celeste, because deep down he knew   
himself incapable of putting an end to the mad designs of the   
mastermind behind the Leviathan comet all those years before.  
  
Regardless of the reasons, the end result was the same. He couldn`t   
stand himself anymore... so he turned his hands to his own chest,   
trembling as his limbs reverberated in a power that could destroy   
all but the most resiliant inorganic alloys.  
  
"No, don`t do this!!!" pleaded Rei, realizing what Technuma had in   
mind.  
  
"Tell Hotaru I love her..." said the guardian, crying silently while   
the energies violently disrupted his cellular structure, igniting   
his skin in a blazing golden inferno that did not emit any heat   
whatsoever.  
  
"Oh dear god no..." cried Rei as the golden blaze extinguished   
itself, having consumed the flesh of the guardian in its entirity,   
although leaving untouched his bones and his blue uniform.  
  
While Rei cried, the essence of Technuma Saturn rose from amidst   
his ashes and felt itself being pulled towards the place it least   
wanted to be. It refused, and fought against this forced rebirth.   
The soul in pain felt something horrible happening.  
  
In a single tearing instant, one whole became two halves, each one   
a single splinter of sorrow and suffering.  
  
* * *  
  
The Prime oversaw the regen-cloning pods in one of the more secret   
compartiment of Saturn Station Alpha, awaiting the rebirth of his   
child Technuma. Circling around the twelve different pods, he   
wondered in which one the deceased Technuma`s soul would reenter   
physical existence.  
  
To his shock, not one but TWO souls entered TWO separate pods,   
engaging the artificial generation of TWO identical bodies.  
  
"Oh bloody hell..." thought the Prime.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 22  
  
KARMAGEDDON  
  
  
"Here`s your refill, miss." said the hospital cafeteria`s waitress   
as she poured the hot coffee into Robin`s empty cup. Many empty   
plates, cups and glasses littered the table in the far-off corner of   
the large hall where both Usagi and Robin had come for some food and   
a place to talk.   
  
So far, Robin had related in vivid details her revelation of being   
Sailor Saturn to Usagi, the deadly conflict between Technuma Saturn,   
Sailor Saturn`s creator and father, and Gallagher, whose obscure   
motivations had pushed to acts of unspeakable violence.  
  
Of course, Robin had no way of knowing what had transpired inside the   
starship Avatar Mark II. Usagi was remembering it one piece at a time,   
increasing steadily her uneasyness... had she really cut a deal with   
Gallagher? Or had she even turned into a backstabbing conniver just   
like him, manipulating those around her to fit her agenda???  
  
"You look a bit pale, girl, you need more nutrition! Try this pie,   
it`s incredible!" said Robin, noticing her nervous attitude.  
  
"Err... why don`t you pick up where you left off? You were just about   
to catch up to Gallagher." asked Usagi, lowering her voice as she   
moved back onto the touchy subject of sailor business.  
  
"Oh yeah... as I said, I`d just cornered him in an underground   
parking lot. He was trying to hide from me, but I was pretty   
psyched by then..."  
  
* * *  
  
"Show yourself!" yelled Sailor Saturn, peering through the   
semi-obscure lot to find her black clothed prey.  
  
"Right here, young scout." said Gallagher, stepping out of a shadow.   
He made his way through the tight huddles of parked cars, taking his   
time to achieve maximum effect.  
  
"How dare you attack my father, you monster! I`ll make him proud by   
destroying you!" she said with convinction.  
  
"But I already AM proud of you, my dear Robin." he replied.  
  
"Huh? Say what?!"  
  
Gallagher removed his black cloth mask and showed his face to Sailor   
Saturn... who couldn`t believe what she was seeing. This was simply   
too much for her.  
  
"You`re lying! I don`t know how you made yourself look like Technuma,   
but you could never be him!" she said in total denial.  
  
Sailor Uranus and Neptune arrived at that moment, ready to give   
backup to warrior sister.  
  
"I AM Technuma!" insisted the man in front of her. "I know you better   
than anyone, my angel. I know all about your newborn soul and your   
kind heart, your love of colorful birds that fly across the sky..."  
  
"Shut up! Anyone could know that!"  
  
"Would just anyone know what you said when you were born, when you   
emerged out of the artificial womb where you grew as you smiled at   
me?" asked Gallagher.  
  
Robin was getting intrigued. She was hanging on his every word...  
  
"You looked at me with those glowing eyes and said... 'kiss me'."  
  
"D..dad? It`s really you! But why are you wearing those clothes? And   
why did you let us all believe that you were Gallagher?" asked Robin,   
confused.  
  
"That`s what I`d like to know!" said another voice coming from behind   
Sailor Saturn. It was a tall man with long blonde hair tied in a   
slick ponytail.  
  
"Noratech? What are you doing here?" asked Sailor Saturn.  
  
"Putting an end to the greatest menace that ever lived." he answered.   
He stepped forward calmly, his long trenchcoat floating in a gust of   
wind that was created as a side effect of his hands charging up with   
raw Technum power.  
  
"No, he`s my father, I won`t let you!" said the young scout, standing   
in his way.  
  
"Keep out of this, Robin, you can`t possibly begin to comprehend the   
stakes involved in this game of power!" he said, using a slight   
amount of Technum to brush her aside as easily as if she`d been a   
rag doll.  
  
Uranus and Neptune chose this moment to charge forward into the   
fray, but were blown back by the combined power of Technuma and   
Noratech.  
  
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" the yelled in unison.  
  
The two guardians so fought each other in a fratricide conflict that   
just made no sense.  
  
Robin stayed there helpless, just like her two friends who watched   
this battle unfold without being able to help.  
  
* * *  
  
"That must have been awful to stay there, not doing anything!" said   
Usagi.  
  
"It was... even more so that he was going to lose that fight." said   
Robin, losing her joyful attitude as she thought of her comatose   
father. "I never did find out what that whole mess was all about,   
can you tell us at last, Usagi? Please don`t let dad`s sacrifice be   
in vain!"  
  
"Sacrifice?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"Yes, you don`t know the rest yet..." continued Robin.  
  
* * *  
  
The fight was a terrible one. No amount of restreint was observed by   
either Technuma or Noratech, unleashing the whole of their might   
upon each other in blast after blast of Technum shockwaves. Cars   
were smashed. Concrete pillars were cracked. In the end, though, not   
much was accomplished as the two opponents were of equal power. The   
powerblaze slowly came to a grinding halt, both the guardian panting   
and heaving.  
  
"I will stop you from destroying the great work, traitor!" said   
Noratech, anger flaring in his eyes.  
  
"You`re the one who`s helping the world coming to an end... I can   
help you see the truth!" argued Technuma.  
  
"Gallagher has clouded your mind. You must be stopped!" screamed   
Noratech, charging in for what would be a bloody fistfight.  
  
* * *  
  
"Judging from the rubble, I`d say they were here not long ago. These   
wood shards are still smoking." commented the Emerald Knight. Shingo   
had finally settled on this new alternate identity to fight evil.   
His entire body was covered with a lightweight metal armorplate of   
emerald color, covered with stylish engraved motives of ancient   
jendrean artistic design. His eagle head shaped helmet allowed only   
his eyes to be seen through his retractable visor. He had also   
fashioned for himself a matching green sword and buckler.  
  
The effect was quite impressive, especially when standing next to   
the sleek lookink Prince Endymion in black clothes, cape and   
breastplate.  
  
"They went that way." said the knight, pointing in the direction   
the five fighters had taken. "I can feel the raw power of Technum   
released." he added.  
  
"But Sailor Moon`s not with them. I can`t feel her here... or over   
there... it`s like she`s not even on this planet anymore!!!" said   
Endymion.  
  
He was absolutely right.  
  
* * *  
  
Technuma Saturn held his chest with both arms, feeling pain like he   
hadn`t felt in centuries. Several of ribs were cracked, and he had   
some internal bleeding he could actually feel... he was losing this   
fight. In front of him, Noratech Neptune wasn`t feeling much better,   
though his own bleeding was mostly superficial.  
  
"You lose, Technuma. The messiah returns with me!" said Noratech,   
using a single Technum blast to finish the job. The guardian of   
Saturn was hit head on, propelled in the air a good five to six feet   
behind.  
  
Robin watched this whole scene, totally horrified; in her own mind,   
everything seemed to play itself out in slow motion... the bolt of   
power hit her father squarely in the chest, exploded violently and   
sent him flying to land brutally on the badly smashed asphalt   
covered ground.  
  
"NO!" she screamed, running to her dying father. She held him in her   
arms as Noratech watched coldly. He had won his bet to put an end   
to Gallagher`s influence on Technuma.  
  
Neptune and Uranus broke out of their silent observation to attack   
and neutralize Noratech. With a simple wave of his hand, he crafted   
a solid energy shield to contain the two warriors in place. They   
tried to break free, to no avail.  
  
"Father, please don`t die, I can`t live knowing you`re not there!"   
said Sailor Saturn, tears running down from her eyes.  
  
"It`s better this way... no parents should outlive their   
children..." he whispered with difficulty.  
  
"Noratech called me messiah... what did he mean?" asked Robin.  
  
"He tought you... were the one... but he`s wrong... you are an   
apostle, no more..." he said, coughing blood in between breaths.   
"Robin... your seizures... the cure is... in you."  
  
"I love you, dad!" said Robin, crying.  
  
"And I... love you too... my angel."  
  
With these final words, Technuma lost consciousness. He was barely   
alive, but wouldn`t remain so for long if Noratech had his way.   
Sailor Saturn kissed her father on his forehead. She felt love for   
him in a way she had never imagined, in a tragic mix of affection   
and sorrow. For a split second, she could have sworn she felt her   
father`s soul kiss her back.  
  
A signal clicked from deep within Robin`s soul, echoing inside her   
whole body in a way that reached from her innermost mind to the very   
surface of her body. A heavenly glow surrounded her with sheer   
strenght enough to tear appart her sailor uniform and shatter her   
tiara to pieces; the glowing light quickly covered her naked body   
with a tight fitting full body senshi fuku in a color scheme of   
crimson, cherry and black. Her right tigh bore the lettering that   
read SORA NO SENSHI, senshi of the skyes. Her uniform completed   
itself with five flashes of light solidifying into a visor and   
metal guards similar to Sailor Moon and Neptune`s.  
  
* * *  
  
"NO WAY!!! You got soul power too, now?!?" asked Usagi in   
astonishment.  
  
"Will you let me finish my story?" replied Robin.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
* * *  
  
"You did this to my father, I don`t know if he`ll live... and you   
would take me out of his arms for your own purposes??? Oh, no, I   
don`t think so." said the soul powered Sailor Saturn, holding back   
her tears.  
  
"You don`t have any say in this matter, young senshi. It is the will   
of Prime that you follow the path drawn for you since before your   
birth. So the prophesy has spoken." said Noratech.  
  
At that moment, the guardian of Neptune realized something was very,   
very wrong. Robin should have either accepted willingly to come, or   
resist with all her might. Either would have worked out in the end   
as he had more than enough strenght to subdue her. In theory. But   
instead, she just stood there with an unnerving grin on her face.   
The same grin that was ringing the very sound of his undoing.  
  
Sailor Saturn extended her hands in front of her, palms reaching up.   
A bright burst of crimson light flashed, in a single instant forging   
her sacred weapon, a long halberd identical to Hotaru`s carved of   
the purest ruby gemstone, the mighty Soulstar.  
  
This sight was a glorious one indeed, freezing in amazed stupor the   
guardian himself, both her warrior friends still encased in a   
spherical energy shield and the two loyal allies of the scouts and   
senshi, Endymion and the Emerald Knight who had just tracked down   
the battlesite.  
  
Saturn raised Soulstar above her head, crying out for the assistance   
of those she knew would come if she only called, the beings who would   
assist her when she would reveal the nature of her newborn soul.  
  
"SERAPHIM WINGS OF WRATH!!!" she called out, a holy beam of light   
flooding her as she stared right into it, into the glory of heaven   
itself. From her body unfolded the purest of feathery wings, six of   
them to be exact, and she began to float upwards in a graceful   
manner that could have put cleopatra herself to shame.  
  
"Oh dear god..." muttered Endymion, who couldn`t believe his eyes.  
  
From the farthest reaches of paradise came a cohorte of the most   
beautiful beings any of the present witnesses had ever seen,   
thirteen female angels clad in golden silk gowns, bearing glaives   
forged in heaven with the power of the almighty Lord of the Universe.  
  
They circled in gleaming light around Robin who pointed towards   
Noratech with her halberd, whispering words in ancient saturnine, a   
language long forgotten to all but a few rare beings.  
  
"Kortanis Angelim, Horrajim!"  
  
The angelic cohort turned to Noratech, surrounding him rapidly and   
flying in tight circles. The guardian`s heart was beating rapidly,   
as he knew nothing of what to expect... if only that it would not   
be something pleasant to go through.  
  
"Prophecise THIS, you bastard!!!" screamed Robin.  
  
The angels began slashing wildly, unleashing their timeless enochian   
battle cries loud enough to drown out the screams of pain of Noratech   
and his useless pleas for mercy.  
  
When the angels vanished and the lights faded, the guardian fell   
down, his body devoid of life before he ever hit the ground. The   
dozens of sword wounds covering his corpse were the only evidence   
that the godly servants had been there at all.  
  
With the clanking noise of Soulstar slipping from her fingers and   
hitting the asphalt, Sailor Saturn fell to her knees in total   
exhaustion. She had a faint smile on her lips, one of the   
satisfaction born out of vengence. And then she fell flat on her   
face, sleeping so deep that nothing would wake her up for more   
than twenty hours afterwards.  
  
* * *  
  
"Shortly after that, Umino noticed on Mercury`s laptop that an   
explosion of great magnitude had occured in the rings of saturn.   
Riding along the shockwave like a surfboard, there was an escape   
pod with you inside. The story stops there, unless you have   
something to add." said Robin to Usagi as she finished her coffee.  
  
"It is coming back at a steady pace." observed Usagi.  
  
Rei came at that point, accompanied by the cutest little pink-haired   
girl in the whole of Tokyo.  
  
"Usagi! You`re on your feet!" said happily Chibi-Usa.  
  
"I`m so happy to see you feeling better." added Rei as she sat down   
with the blonde girl and her classmate. Chibi-Usa did the same.  
  
"I`m... still not too sure WHAT could have created this short-term   
memory loss." said Usagi.  
  
"You can tell us... no one else but you knows the whole truth behind   
Gallagher." mentionned Robin.  
  
"Assuming you manage to recall it." pointed out the small lady.  
  
"Some more is coming back, maybe if I start telling you, it`ll come   
back to me." said Usagi.  
  
"Yes, please tell us that all this wasn`t in vain!" said Rei.  
  
"Alright, here goes..."  
  
* * *  
  
Gallagher laughed as Usagi held him in a tight headlock and   
threatened him by holding Avenger to his throat. He was amused that   
someone had managed to see right through his plan to sneak back into   
Saturn Station Beta.  
  
"Strange how things work out... I was sure that the last piece of   
Heresy was still on earth... yet you of all people, little Sailor   
Moon, knew before me where to find it!" he said.  
  
Releasing her grip and sitting in the copilot seat, the senshi of   
the moon nonetheless kept Avenger pointed towards Gallagher, just   
in case... and she was going to get answers out of him!  
  
"Get talking Gallagher. Tell me what you know." she ordered him.  
  
"Okay. The first thing you really need to know is this: Even if you   
kill a guardian, he`ll just be reborn as his essence is captured by   
the Prime`s regen-cloning system and rebuilds his body from his DNA   
file and redraws his mental patterns artificially... which is how   
the Prime controls his guardians, in combination with an odd   
telepathic power that allows him to cloud memory and judgement in   
an individual." explained Gallagher.  
  
"So he`s a control freak, then. Why? And why weren`t Kitechnum and   
Technazul reconstructed when they died?"  
  
"Because the two of them discovered the Prime`s true motivations...   
and because they were AWARE of his memory clouding abilities, they   
had become IMMUNE! That is why he sent the Leviathan comet, to force   
Technazul into self-sacrifice... and coerced Celeste into murdering   
Kitechnum. And by the way, the link between guardian and planet isn`t   
THAT close... simply killing a guardian is not enough to destroy his   
planet."  
  
"But... why was planet Jendra destroyed then?" wondered Sailor Moon.  
  
"Because the Prime HAD IT DESTROYED, to squelch the rebellion   
Kitechnum had begun to stir against his creator. And the fact that   
CELESTE had been the instrument of this murder, it conveniently fell   
into place that her father Ronmar was drawn into darkness and later   
killed Hotaru, Technuma`s star pupil. Her death, the Prime supposed,   
would allow an old prophesy to come to pass."  
  
"You lost me there." admitted Sailor Moon, discreetly relaxing her   
guard, and moving her gaze to Heresy. Something... familiar was   
upsetting her about this sword.  
  
"It goes as follow..."  
  
And so it came to be that  
the young messiah was   
slain by the black weapon of  
the evil lord of darkness  
in his shadow of dread.  
  
Thus she was brought back  
to life, by the infinite power  
and the will of Prime and his children.  
  
For she was meant to cut  
through the veil of cold winter  
with the strenght of eternity  
and the infinite Ouroboros.  
  
"The Prime firmly believes that Sailor Saturn, recreated by Technuma   
Saturn, would be that messiah. That is why he had her subconscious   
programming additionned with a few lines of codes of his own... mind   
control pattern that would make his telepathic mind clouding even   
stronger on poor Robin! But he was wrong... she`s NOT the messiah,   
only an apostle like you, Sailor Moon." said Gallagher, looking into   
the distance at the approaching Saturn station Beta.  
  
"Wait a minute... could this unnecesary programming be causing these   
seizures she keeps having?"  
  
"Precisely. But Technuma figured out a cure for these violent   
attacks: her soul power MUST be unleashed. You probably didn`t know   
that, but soul power makes you girls immune to the Prime`s subtle   
mind altering techniques." said Gallagher. He pulled out his cards   
and noticed one more scout had become senshi. "Well what do you   
know? She succeeded already!"  
  
"If you want to protect us, why attack us?"  
  
"Because, by attacking you, I dragged you into the conflict much   
sooner than the Prime would have wanted. By screwing his timetable   
by several centuries, I made sure to keep him unbalanced and   
confused." said Gallagher. "Besides... Sailor Venus`s mind was...   
not exactly the strongest one of the pack. Her soul was like an   
iron in a forge, it needed... motivation to evolve. Being hammered   
this way helped ensure she`d be ready in time for things to come,   
but that`s another story."  
  
Sailor Moon got angry. She jumped up and placed her sword against   
Gallagher`s neck again.  
  
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn`t KILL you this very   
instant!!!" she screamed.  
  
"I`ll forego the obvious fact that you want to know WHY I`m doing   
all of this and go straight to the real reason: you saw the contents   
of that crystal I gave you at the museum, and it`s eating you alive!   
You just have to know if you and your friends are nothing more than   
clones dancing to strings held by the guardians!!!" answered   
gallagher.  
  
"Damn you for making so much sense..." mumbled Sailor Moon, lowering   
her crystal two-handed sword.  
  
"We`ll be reaching the docking bay any minute now. Once we enter the   
station, I want to get the last piece of Heresy right away. Then all   
will be clear." said Gallagher, punching a few buttons to send the   
docking bay opening sequence signal.  
  
"How can I know that you just haven`t made up all of this? That the   
crystal isn`t simply a clever fake you made using your ressemblance   
to Technuma? What assurances can you give me???" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"None, really. But the computer archives contain a file that has   
laid dormant for hundreds of years... it should provide you with   
the final answer you seek. I`ll give it to you... in exchange for   
the location of the final piece of Heresy."  
  
"Okay... but I hold on to the broken sword until I`m convinced you   
haven`t lied to me all this time."  
  
"I ask no more than this." replied Gallagher with a smile that made   
Usagi shiver.  
  
* * *  
  
The Avatar Mark II glided silently through the large main docking   
bay of the old Saturn Station Beta, a slightly smaller replica of   
the old station Alpha that had been destroyed during the onslaught   
of Beryl upon the silver millenium. The faint vibrations in the hull   
that reverberated into the cockpit indicated that docking clamps had   
taken hold, and that the boarding tube was secured.  
  
"Come this way, Sailor Moon. It`s still night in the station, we can   
move around without attracting attention." said Gallagher. He lead   
her to the boarding tube at the end of which was a touchpad lock. He   
pressed his hand on the pad who immediately verified fingerprints,   
blood vessel patterns and DNA.  
  
"Welcome aboard, Technuma." said a an emotionless computer voice as   
the heavily shielded door opened smoothly.  
  
"We`re in." said Gallagher.  
  
* * *  
  
In the security monitoring room, Litechnae Venus was checking through   
the many video channels of the camera system that kept a watchful eye   
over the whole station. Movement caught her eye in the primary   
docking bay; she saw two people enter the station and take blue   
corridor one towards the heart of the central dome.  
  
When she reckognized who it was, she immediately turned on a video   
communication channel. An image of the Prime appeared on the small   
screen.  
  
"Technuma`s come back, and he brought back someone..." she said.   
In her mind, she received the telepathic response of her creator.  
  
"It`s Sailor Moon, and I don`t know why he brought her here. I do   
believe he might have been tainted while he was on earth... shall   
I intiniate the quarantine plan we agreed on?" she asked.  
  
The Prime smiled. His response was quite clear to Litechnae. She   
pushed a serie of control buttons on her keyboard, activating two   
mechanisms. First, all doors to the other guardians sleeping   
quarters were bolted shut and sealed off. Next, a strong dose of   
sleeping gas was pumped into their rooms, ensuring they wouldn`t   
wake up until the Prime had dealt with the situation.  
  
"It`s done sir, you might be interesting to know that they are   
headed to the memorial room."  
  
The Prime nodded. He was on his way.  
  
* * *  
  
The memorial room was probably one of the largest places in the   
central dome of Saturn Station Beta. Huge plants and trees were   
growing contently all around a large statue of Kitechnum Jendra and   
Laurella, right next to a hologramatic model of the solar system.  
  
"It`s beautiful." said Sailor Moon.  
  
"Remind me why we came here." asked Gallagher.  
  
"That last piece, remember?" said Sailor Moon.  
  
"HERE? You gotta be kidding me!"  
  
"Hey, this is the last place you`d expect, right? What better hiding   
spot?" said the senshi. "And now... that file you told me about?"  
  
"Come over here." said Gallagher. He pointed to a small computer   
terminal on the wall. "Go to the archived files and ask for 'Queen`s   
Gambit'. The password is 'King`s Rook'.  
  
Usagi did just that. The password did unlock the file, revealing the   
greatest secret that had ever been buried in the shrouds of the   
silver milenium`s past. While she read, she barely paid any   
attention to Gallagher who opened the dedication plaque of the   
statue to reveal the final piece of the black metal sword Heresy.  
  
Sneaking behind the engrossed Sailor Moon, he looked at the   
incomplete sword in her hand. Now was the chance to make his move.   
Grabbing her by the back of the neck, he violently smashed her face   
in the computer terminal`s screen. The pain knocked her senses into   
a haywire mess of mismatched sensations.  
  
"Huh... what..." she mumbled, dropping Heresy to the ground.  
  
"Sorry young senshi... but this I have to do." whispered Gallagher   
in her ear before smashing her face in the screen again. This time,   
it shattered under the impact. Without her visor, she would have   
surely had her eyes gouged by the sharp shards of glass. She fell   
down limply.  
  
"Thus it came to be that it was forged anew, That Which Shouldn`t Be,   
the Heresy!!!" said Gallagher, picking up the black sword and   
reuniting the last piece to it. A huge surge of paradoxal energies   
was unleashed, rocking the entire station in wave after wave of   
temporal aberrant shocks. "Your forsaken son has returned, Prime!!!   
Can you hear me, you ancient bastard?!?" he screamed as he held   
forth the black sword that surged with energy more primal than   
Technum itself.  
  
The doors to the memorial room slid open, allowing passage to the   
Prime himself. As he walked calmly towards the half-soul rebirth of   
his original creation, his greyish skin began to stir. It transformed   
itself from smooth skin into a jagged armor more resistant than the   
strongest alloy known to human technology.  
  
"Yes, I heard you!" said the Prime. As he spoke, his telepathic   
abilities echoed each of his words into a bolt of mental force that   
thundered in the minds of both Gallagher and Sailor Moon, waking her   
out of her unconscious state.  
  
"So that`s why you never speak... your could destroy someone`s mind   
just discussing weather." commented Gallagher, a splitting headache   
beginning to make itself feel in his skull.  
  
"Correct!" said the Prime, with another psy wave crashing through   
everyone`s head.  
  
Gallagher held up the mighty Heresy in his hands, attempting to   
ignore the crushing pain in his head, charged forward towards the   
Prime. His blow was blocked by the Prime who created for himself a   
sword of raw solar Technum.  
  
"Time for you to die!!!" yelled Gallagher as the swords clashed   
violently in a burst of power that threatened to destroy the station   
from the inside out.  
  
"You ungrateful brat, you never deserved what fate granted you!"   
yelled the Prime, blasting Gallagher out of his mind.  
  
With all these psychic screams bashing her hurting brain, Sailor   
Moon barely realized what was happening. The final detonation of   
Technum and paradox blasted the swordsmen away from each other,   
smashing the Technum sword into nothingness and sending Heresy into   
a flying spin out of Gallagher`s hands. It landed heavily and slid   
all the way to Usagi`s feet who slowly bent over and picked it up.  
  
Both enemies looked at her, wondering how she would react.  
  
"You must destroy him, Sailor Moon, he`s responsible for all the pain   
you ever went through!" urged Gallagher.  
  
The Prime responded in his silent fashion. Sailor Moon knew that the   
Prime was begging her to reconsider Gallagher`s conniving lies and   
deceit to get the sword she now held.  
  
"One of you has lied to me." she said with cold determination. "One   
of you deserves to die."  
  
* * *  
  
Robin, Rei and Chibi-Usa were hanging on to Usagi`s every word. They   
had been listening to her tale and knew that she had been holding the   
fate of the solar system itself in her hands. Her choice at that very   
moment was going to change history in an irreversible manner.  
  
"... and then what?!?" asked Rei, the suspense killing her.  
  
"Yeah, don`t keep us hanging like that!!!" added Robin.  
  
"I... I don`t remember any more. Sorry." said Usagi, looking down in   
embarassment.  
  
"Come on, you remembered so much already! Don`t tell us you can`t   
recall any more!" observed the small lady.  
  
"No... there`s nothing more. Just a black hole in my head." said   
Usagi defensively.  
  
Her friends began to wonder. She looked nervous, as if she was   
fighting a war inside her skull.  
  
"Usagi, you can`t keep something so big inside you, let it out.."   
said Rei as she stood up and approached Usagi to hug her. To Rei`s   
surprise, her reaction was a very violent one.  
  
Usagi pushed her away with all her strenght, throwing her over the   
next table which she knocked over.  
  
"NO! I don`t want to remember, you can`t make me!!!" screamed Usagi,   
running away from her friends in a frenzied race. Before the others   
realized what was going on, she was already too far for them to   
follow.  
  
"Dear god, WHAT could she be holding on to? It`s gotta be horrible,   
considering all she`s gone through in her life so far..." said Rei,   
catching her breath.  
  
"Whatever it is, I`m sure it`s what caused Usagi to lose her memory!"   
said Robin. "Come on, we have to help her!"  
  
"How?" asked Chibi-Usa.  
  
"I don`t know. But I do have a feeling though... come on, let`s find   
Setsuna!" suggested Robin.  
  
  
To be continued...  
  
* * *  
  
Yeah, yeah, I know... I promised everyone that I`d conclude the story   
in THIS chapter... but I simply have too much to tell in this one to   
complete it so fast! The next chapter WILL be the conclusion and all   
questions WILL be answered. HONEST!  



	23. In Final Analysis

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
A thousand years ago...  
  
  
Safely hidden behind a cloaking shield of his own design, the Prime   
was peering outside of the starship Equinox through the cockpit`s   
viewscreen. It was showing a sharp image of his home, Saturn Station   
Alpha, as it was being showered with laser fire from large, dark   
ships whose jagged forms sent shivers down his spine.  
  
The station was litteraly flooded by quantum light particule beams   
as the fifty or so dark destructor ships bombarded it mercilessly.   
The hull buckled and warped under the onslaught, breaching open and   
detonating in millions of twisted shreds.  
  
Saturn Station Alpha was no more.  
  
"Pity we had to lose the station as well in this operation... oh   
well, sacrifices must be made to reach results." thought the Prime.   
He finished entering his final observations in his timetable log and   
closed it definitely.  
  
"Under what name shall this file be stored?" asked the computer   
system.  
  
The Prime thought long about this one. With the hundreds of thousands   
of files his systems contained, he needed a name he could easily   
remember.  
  
He punched in the name: "Queen`s Gambit"  
  
Even with the terrible destruction being commited throughout the   
entire solar system by the forces of darkness, he still felt that   
his goal was one step closer to being attained. He was going to head   
for the new homebase of the guardians, Saturn Station Beta, but then   
he thought of something. Something that could make a great difference   
in the end.  
  
He changed course and headed for the moon, where the most terrible   
battle ever fought in the history of the silver millenium was taking   
place.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: CHAPTER 23  
  
IN FINAL ANALYSIS  
  
  
Usagi ran out of the hospital screaming, bowling down a couple of   
doctors on her way out. She was running from the doctors. She was   
running from her friends. But first and foremost, she was running   
from herself.  
  
The memories that she`d lost a few days ago when she came back on   
earth crashing down in an escape pod were returning to her rapidly.  
  
That`s exactly where the prolem was, as what she wanted so desperatly   
tried to remember was now threatening to destroy her very sanity.   
Usagi was now just as desperate to shove back down those unwanted   
memories.  
  
And so she ran.  
  
* * *  
  
"What do you mean, 'we have to find Setsuna'?" asked Rei. "What does   
she have to do with this?"  
  
"I`m... not sure, all I know is we have to contact her!" replied   
Robin.  
  
As if on cue, a ringing sound then came from Robin`s purse- she   
opened it and answered her cellular.  
  
"Hello?" she said. It was Meioh Setsuna`s voice on the other end.  
  
"Robin, I know what`s going on. You and Rei must come over to my   
place with Chibi-Usa, right now." she said.  
  
"But, we have to catch up with Usagi before she..." argued Robin.   
Setsuna brutally interrupted her.  
  
"NOW! And hurry over, Usagi`s mind won`t last much longer until it   
collapses! (click)"  
  
"So was it her?" asked Chibi-Usa.  
  
"Who else has this kind of dramatic timing? Let`s go, she`s   
expecting us right now." replied Robin.  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting among the carboard boxes containing the many trinkets she   
collected over the centuries of her seemingly endless existence,   
Setsuna stared at the blan walls and empty rooms of what was going   
to be the home of herself as well as Haruka and Michiru, not to   
mention Robin who was now without a home because of her appartment   
having been destroyed by Gallagher. But now was not the time to   
consider trivial details such as where to put Robin`s things or   
available closet space... something much more tragic was about to   
unfold.  
  
The doorbell rang... in addition to fists being slammed brutally on   
the door. She was there, right on time. Setsuna went to the front   
door to find there the distraught Usagi, a look of pure horror on   
her face and tears running down her face, badly messing up her   
makeup.  
  
"I was expecting you." said Setsuna. She was going to invite her   
in, but Usagi reacted faster, slapping her as hard as she could   
and leaving a large red mark on her cheek.  
  
"HOW DARE YOU, YOU HEARTLESS BITCH???" screamed Usagi, denouncing   
Setsuna`s earlier warning that "death is sometimes preferable to   
life".  
  
"If I`d told you EXACTLY what was going to happen, would you have   
gone???" asked Setsuna, wiping a thin stream of blood flowing from   
her mouth.  
  
"That`s nowhere near the point and you know it... do you have any   
idea WHO`S blood is on my hands??? You made me a cold blooded   
murdered, you damn witch!!!" she yelled as she hurled herself   
forward to strangle the guardian of time.  
  
Setsuna tried to defend herself, but the temporarily insane Usagi   
was much stronger from her deranged mind. She made Setsuna fear   
for her life as the blonde girl`s iron grip was cutting the   
circulation to her brain- but this same madness saved her life,   
as the flow of memory kept on making Usagi remember more and more,   
until she collapsed in pain, unconscious and just one step away   
from death.  
  
Setsuna sobbed silently, feeling guilty over the fate of the poor   
Usagi. She felt responsible for this turn of events, but it was   
nonetheless inevitable. She held in her arms the unconscious senshi   
until her friends arrived there to help her.  
  
"I`m so sorry, Usagi..." she whispered in her ear.  
  
* * *  
  
Void.  
  
Utterly empty, blank, non-descript void.  
  
This is all that surrounded Usagi as she floated in weightlessness,   
naked and curled up in a comforting foetal position. Nothing around   
her to disturb her peaceful slumber.  
  
No battles to fight. No memories to haunt her. Nothing.  
  
Just void.  
  
Then a sparkle of light appeared in front of her eyes. It was a   
beautiful glint of life, a gentle and reassuring presence, an ancient   
soul come to heal her own wounded soul. Without even thinking, she   
held her hand toward the shining spark- which then turned into the   
form of Sailor Chibi-Moon, her daughter from the future.  
  
"Hello, Usagi." she said.  
  
"Oh, it`s you small lady..." she whispered with a smile. "Tell   
me... where are we?"  
  
"Inside your soul, mother, your terribly hurt soul. I`m here to   
help... to heal you. Setsuna was able to send me here the same way   
the you and the others entered my dreams during my first visit to   
the past." said Chibi-Moon.  
  
"But... why? I`m much better now. There`s nothing here to hurt me,   
nothing to scare me ever again." argued Usagi.  
  
"But if you retreat here any longer, you`ll die!"  
  
"What reasons would I have to leave this comfort? Why should I feel   
that horrible pain again?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Because they all care for you... and because I love you, mommy!"  
  
This argument touched Usagi. In a flash of pink light, her body was   
wrapped in a beautiful gown of silk and lace. "I wouldn`t do this for   
anyone else but you, my precious daughter." she said.  
  
They vanished from the void.  
  
* * *  
  
The sleeping Chibi-Moon laid peacefully next to Usagi on Setsuna`s   
bed, under the watchful eyes of Sailor Saturn, Mars and Pluto. The   
three of them were really worried for Usagi; she had witnessed some   
truly horrific things as Chibi-Moon would soon discover.  
  
"Can we do anything to help?" asked Sailor Mars.  
  
"Yes, Mars, you can. Pray for our friend`s soul." replied Pluto,   
gently stroking the short blonde hair of the dying Usagi.  
  
And so she did, while Saturn held Usagi`s hand and cried in silence.  
  
* * *  
  
"Where are we now?" asked Chibi-Usa.  
  
"Inside Saturn Station Beta, this is the memorial room, where the   
last piece of Gallagher`s sword, Heresy, was hidden." she explained.  
  
Chibi-Moon and Usagi saw the scene replaying in Usagi`s mind with   
crystal clarity; like a video replay, they witnessed the account of   
Sailor Moon`s final confrontation although they could not affect   
its outcome in any way.  
  
"Let us watch, small lady- and learn the truth." she said, beckoning   
silence from her daughter.  
  
Sailor Moon was getting up, and getting hold of the now reforged   
black sword, the forgotten and forsaken Heresy.  
  
"You must destroy him, Sailor Moon, he`s responsible for all the   
pain you ever went through!" said Gallagher, pointing to the Prime.  
  
From their unique perspective, Usagi and Chibi-Moon heard the words   
of the Prime out loud, even though he was really transmitting them   
through wordless telepathy.  
  
"He`s lied to you, young senshi, he manipulated you in his bid for   
total anihilation!!!"  
  
Sailor Moon looked at them both, her face hardening in anger and   
pain. Blood trickled from her nose after having her face repeatedly   
smashed in a computer screen by Gallagher only moments before.  
  
"One of you has lied to me. One of you deserves to die." said   
Sailor Moon.  
  
She turned to Gallagher.  
  
"You did trick me, used guile and deceit every step of the way,   
nearly killed my friend in a mad quest for vengence... but I won`t   
lower myself to take away your life." she said, to his relief.   
"No... there is another one who DOES deserve to be struck down...   
and that someone is you!!!" she said, pointing the Prime   
accusingly.  
  
"Why?!?" resounded the suddenly audible words of the ancient being   
clad in an armor of his own solidified skin.  
  
"I read it all in your personal logs... your 'Queen`s Gambit'   
file... you couldn`t control the evil Beryl who didn`t trust you,   
or my mother Serenity, so you betrayed one by selling her off to the   
other- you are responsible for the destruction of the entire silver   
millenium, you monster! In your mad goal to MAKE YOURSELF A LIVING   
GOD, you destroyed billions of lives, leeched off the natural Technum   
flow of the sun and tried to usurp the name of the messiah by trying   
to create her yourself!!! You wanted it all..." said Usagi,   
suspending her accusations to take a dramatic sword wielding pose.   
"...And now you lose EVERYTHING!"   
  
Usagi lifted the great Heresy whose temporal vibrations sang to her.   
She felt the call of the Heresy, and her philistine hands were ready   
to fulfill their great role.  
  
With one swift blow, she struck down the mighty Prime, slicing   
through his armor as easily as a white hot metal sword through warm   
butter. An inhuman telepathic scream resounded throughout the whole   
station, waking up the sleeping guardians despite the large sleeping   
gas dose they`d received earlier. They quickly began withering, as   
their continued existence depended on their creator`s life force,   
though they did not know it except for Gallagher who knew all too   
well that his success in killing the Prime would ensure his swift   
death.  
  
"Come on, let`s get out of here." said Usagi, droping the now dead   
sword at the feet of the Prime`s lifeless corpse.  
  
"No... can`t go, I`m... dying." he said. "My life is... linked to   
his... only Technuma could... survive this... ever since our soul   
fracture he`s been... further away from the Prime`s influence...   
that`s why the Prime tried to control him more than... the   
others." he painfully said. "He still has a regen-cloning unit...   
somewhere.. hidden god knows where..."  
  
Gallagher coughed violently, spitting blood as he did.  
  
"You mean he could reconstruct another body?!?" asked the horrified   
Sailor Moon.  
  
"Yes... but his essence must... be processed through the... central   
computer core... still time to stop that... you must destroy it!   
Destroy the core... then take... the escape pod out... won`t be   
power to... release docking clamps... please... Usagi... don`t let...   
guardians` lives... be in vain..." he uttered with difficulty.   
  
"There`s one more thing I have to know... that crystal you gave me,   
the one that told me the scouts had been cloned each time we died,   
was it real?!?"  
  
"The crystal itself... was a fake... but... it could be... possible   
for the... guardians to have... cloned you... but... is that   
really... what you want to believe?" he whispered, then closed   
his eyes.  
  
Gallagher was no more.  
  
"I promise you, Gallagher... I`ll do whatever it takes to prevent   
the Prime from returning!"  
  
* * *  
  
The memorial room vanished around Chibi-Moon and the silk clad Usagi   
to be replaced by a very high-tech environment. In the middle of a   
circular room, a large metal cylinder was linked to surrounding   
processing units and memory banks by a great number of wires and   
cables.  
  
"Where is this now?" asked the small lady.  
  
"This is the most painful part of the journey. Please, my daughter,   
hold me tight!" begged Usagi to Chibi-Moon who did it willingly.  
  
Avenger shining in her hand, Sailor Moon entered the room, looking   
to what she had to destroy.  
  
"Where am I supposed to even start?" she wondered, thinking out   
loud.  
  
"May I suggest the central core?" asked the bland, boring computer   
voice.  
  
"Hey, why would you assist me in your own destruction? You`re trying   
to trick me!" she said, searching for the source of the voice.  
  
"No I`m not, young Sailor Moon. As a matter of fact, I`d been hoping   
for quite some time this moment would come... a thousand years to be   
exact." said the voice.  
  
"Why would you want me to destroy you? It makes no sense!" she   
argued.  
  
The central metal cylinder slid down with a slight humming sound,   
revealing that the central core was not fully made of metal, but   
really a glass tube covered by an armored protection.  
  
Just as the lights in the room were about to light themselves up,   
the replay in Usagi`s mind stopped, the images freezing in a still   
picture.  
  
"Wait, why`d you stop, mom?" asked Chibi-Moon.  
  
"Because... this is the reason I don`t want to remember what   
happened to me... it`s just too horrible to face again!" she said,   
tears streaming down her face.  
  
"But you`re not alone this time around, mommy, I`m here!" said   
Chibi-Moon, hugging Usagi.  
  
"Thank my darling... your presence gives me the strenght to face   
this again, to remember..."  
  
The images resumed their course.  
  
Lights came on, directly shining upon the darkened glass cylinder.   
Sailor Moon saw it to be filled with an orange liquid substance   
sustaining something floating inside. She could see it was a humanoid   
being, its body horribly mutilated with wires and cables linking it   
to the rest of the computer system. Its right are had been cut off   
to connect some fiber optic links, its head was covered with these   
cables in an inhuman mane of technological hair, and its body had   
been cut off under the waist- only more cable were connected there,   
to sustain the life of this living computer core.  
  
(There it is, the source of all my pain...)  
  
Sailor Moon couldn`t see its face as it turned its back to her, so   
she moved around to have a better look.  
  
(Oh god she`s going to see that face again)  
  
Looking through the glass, behind the orange liquid, Sailor Moon   
saw a face... a face she didn`t recognize at first without the hair,   
but the eyes, there was no mistaking them...  
  
(No, Sailor Moon, please don`t look, oh god no, don`t look I beg   
you...)  
  
Sailor Moon finally recognized that face, those bright blue eyes,   
that sweet smile... she was revolted to see that it was her own   
mother from the past, Queen Serenity!!!  
  
"Oh my god, what has that psychic bastard done to you, mother?"   
asked Sailor Moon, dropping Avenger and holding her hands against   
the glass cylinder.   
  
Serenity smiled. She couldn`t speak through the liquid, but the   
bland computer voice that spoke earlier was hers indeed.  
  
"When Beryl destroyed everything and your souls were leaving for   
earth, the Prime came for me... he said he would fix me up, preserve   
my life... but I never would have agreed if I`d known it meant   
THIS!" said the voice, suddenly choked up with sorrow.  
  
Sailor Moon was in shock.  
  
"I can`t believe he would have done that... but the monster is dead,   
mother, I killed him!!!"  
  
(Oh no... she`s going to ask me!)  
  
"Yes, my daughter, but he is trying to rebuild a new body for   
himself, unless you stop it! There is less than three minutes   
remaining before he rises again. You know what must be done, my   
dear." said Serenity, looking at the crystal sword on the floor.  
  
"Oh god no..." whispered Sailor Moon. "ANYTHING but THAT!" she   
pleaded, even though she knew it HAD to be done.  
  
"Do it for the galaxy, my darling, so that the Prime may never rise   
again... but mostly, please do it for me, to release me from this   
prison, my dear princess..." said Serenity.  
  
Sailor Moon picked up Avenger, holding it tightly in her clenched   
hands. Her arms shook like leaves at the thought of what she was   
about to do.  
  
(No, please, don`t do it!!! I beg you!!!)  
  
Serenity looked peacefuly at Sailor Moon as she raised her sword,   
preparing herself to swing the most heartwrenching blow she ever   
gave. She struck dozens of enemies in the past, but never someone   
she cared so much about.  
  
"I love you, my darling Usagi." said Serenity.  
  
"I love you, mother!" replied Sailor Moon, tears flowing down her   
face.  
  
And so she struck.  
  
The helpless witnesses Usagi and Chibi-Usa closed their eyes, unable   
to stand this awful sight. They heard the first blow break through   
the cylinder, splashing the orange life support liquid, and two   
more blows making sounds too abominable to even think of what was   
happening. Then the only sounds left were those of the station`s   
red alert siren and Sailor Moon`s tragic cries of pain.  
  
Chibi-Usa heard an automated signal announce that primary computer   
support was down, and that all functions would cease in thirty   
seconds. She reopened her eyes to see that the scene had changed,   
and that she and her mother were now in the launch bay where the   
self-powered escape pods were the only way out of the doomed   
station. Sailor Moon was covered in blood and the orange substance,   
and she stepped in one of the pods which then launched itself out   
to safety before the entire station was disintegrated in a ball of   
flame.  
  
So now she knew what had happened, and she felt so much sorrow for   
her poor mother, Usagi, who was holding on to her like a frightened   
child.  
  
"Don`t worry, mommy, all will be fine, now..." she said.  
  
The image of Sailor Moon`s escape pod soaring through space and   
heading for earth vanished, returning the two girls into the void.  
  
"All will be fine." repeated Usagi, a faint smile on her lips   
peering through her tears.  
  
The girls vanished as well, leaving the void to be content in being   
its usual empty, depleted self.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi slowly arose from her deep slumber to find herself surrounded   
by her loved ones. On her way to Setsuna`s, Saturn had used her   
cellular to give a few calls and warn everyone.  
  
"Mommy, you`re back!" said the overjoyed Sailor Chibi-Moon who   
jumped in her arms and hugged her tight enough to cut her respiration   
short.  
  
"Yes, and I... remember it all now..." she replied, more tears still   
forming in her eyes. "Setsuna, I`m so sorry I did what I have done   
to you earlier... those things I said... these were words of anger   
that I was too cowardly to direct at myself..."  
  
"I understand, Usagi." said Sailor Pluto. "Chibi-Usa explained us   
what she saw in your mind, your soul was deeply wounded indeed."  
  
Usagi looked around her to see the relieved faces of all those she   
cared about.  
  
The sailor scouts, Mars, Uranus, Jendra, Jupiter, Pluto, Chibi-Moon,   
even Mercury who had finally agreed to leave Venus`s bedside for a   
while, the senshi Saturn and Neptune, Prince Endymion whom she   
thought looked sexy in his new attire, her brother the Emerald   
Knight, her friend Naru and... Umino? Hell, her parents were   
there!!!  
  
"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" asked Usagi in surprise.  
  
"Your brother felt that you would heal better if you had your entire   
family by your side through this ordeal. It WAS a shock at first,   
to learn both our children were reincarnated heroes of the moon,   
but we accept it now." said Ikuko.  
  
"You make us proud, Usagi, for all the heroic acts your brother told   
us you did over the years!" added Kenji.  
  
"Thanks, mom, dad... I`m so happy you`re here with me!!!"  
  
"I gave some thought over this supposed cloning business you   
discussed with Gallagher..." said Mercury. "I don`t think we were   
cloned at all."  
  
"Why not?" wondered Jupiter.  
  
"I saw Minako`s x-rays yesterday... her collar bone had a fracture   
scar from an accident she suffered as a child... clones can`t have   
scars, they`re not in your genetic map!" explained Mercury.  
  
Jendra looked at her wrists. The old slash scars she saw there   
actually reassured her for the first time, rather than just being   
painful reminders of her botched suicide attempt.  
  
"I guess we can put this behind us at last, then." suggested Usagi,   
as she hugged her hubby Endymion.  
  
Everyone agreed with her.  
  
* * *  
  
Epilogue...  
  
Rei stepped out of her shower, having washed off all her sorrows and   
worries... except one.  
  
She wrapped a towel around her and squeezed as much water as she   
could from her long black mane. Wiping some steam off her full   
height mirror, she took a deep look into her own eyes, wondering   
if she could really hold on to her secret.  
  
She lowered her towel, and took a long look at her bare chest. She   
dragged her finger underneath her left breast, where she received a   
large wound in a childhood accident. This accident had given her a   
scar that had made her very self-conscious about her friends seeing   
her naked.  
  
This scar she never told anyone about. Not even Technuma could have   
known, as her skin was too badly charred to allow him to see it.  
  
After Technuma had "healed" her... that scar had vanished.  
  
If the guardians had the knowhow to resurrect themselves... couldn`t   
they easily duplicate scars as well? Scars they KNEW of, anyway...  
  
Rei pulled her towel back off and decided never to think of this   
missing scar again. This was one secret Rei was taking to her grave.  
  
  
The End  



	24. Rebuilding From Ashes

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue  
  
Emptiness. Nothing. Void.  
  
Although he was bathed in total darkness, this was strangely peaceful   
and soothing to the wounded soul of Technuma Saturn. All the hurt,   
all the pain, all the sorrow of a millenium`s worth of tragedy was   
being slowly healed in the comforting arms of the perpetual night he  
floated in.  
  
He was quite dead, he was aware of that. A weakened link still bound   
him to his comatose body which lied in a Tokyo hospital, but... did   
he really want to go back? A lifetime of scars was the only thing he   
had to show for three thousand years of continued existence... well,  
there WAS one reason to keep hanging on to his thread of life: his   
daughter Robin, whom he left behind as his soul shard turned its   
back on earthly life.  
  
He wanted so very much to return to the source of all, the One in   
All, the origin of reality. Being reunited with the whole was   
tempting, but not if it meant abandoning his dear Robin to a world   
that would destroy her if it could.  
  
"Technuma..." whispered a voice through the void.  
  
Technuma slowly arose its head out of his curled up foetal position.   
He saw the silhouette of someone he knew well: his other soul half,   
Gallagher. Unlike Technuma whose soul form wore no clothes   
whatsoever, Gallagher had managed to carry a replica of his black   
uniform, minus the gloves and mask. His cape floated behind him in   
unexisting winds, but then it ocurred to the guardian that it was no   
cape in Gallagher`s back... it was a pair a glimmering black wings.  
  
Technuma remembered something he had been forced to forget by the   
mind clouding power of the Prime: in the ancient saturnine language,   
"Gallagher" meant "Redeemer".   
  
The other half of the guardian held its hand forward in silence,   
inviting its twin to come with him. Technuma hesitated.  
  
"What will happen of Robin? I can`t let her stay behind alone!" he   
argued.  
  
"But she is not alone. She has her friends... and the messiah will   
come to help her ascend, do you not remember?"  
  
And Technuma did remember. It was clear now, that he was to reach a   
higher level of existence until the wheel spun again in another   
cycle. He held Gallagher`s hand, and the two halves were once again   
reunited.  
  
"Will we ever merge into one again?" whispered the guardian to his   
soul brother.  
  
"I don`t know... but nothing will ever be the same again, that I do   
know."  
  
The two soul shards disappeared, reaching a level of existence   
attained only by those who have reached a greater spiritual   
understanding of themselves.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 24  
  
REBUILDING FROM ASHES  
  
  
Sitting comfortably on their living room couch, Usagi and Chibi-Usa   
took a long sip of their coffee in total synchronisation, leaving   
Usagi`s parents hanging on their lips for more of the amazing story   
that had become her life ever since a certain talking black cat had   
entered it.  
  
"...and what happened next?!?" asked Ikuko, eaten alive by the   
suspense.  
  
"Did you strike down Gallagher of the Prime???" asked Kenji.  
  
Usagi put down her empty cup and resumed.  
  
"I knew that Gallagher had been lying to me about the supposed   
cloning, and that he hurt Minako, but also that he did all this for   
a reason: the Prime wanted to become a god, and had crushed the   
entire silver millenium in his attempt. That`s what the 'Queen`s   
Gambit' file was holding: evidence that he betrayed my mother from   
my previous incarnation, Serenity, by giving vital defense   
information to Beryl knowing that they would destroy each other."   
she said.  
  
"The battle you told us about earlier, right?" asked Kenji.  
  
"Right!" replied Chibi-Usa.  
  
"So... you killed him?!?" wondered Ikuko.  
  
"Yes... and then, as I tried to destroy his central computer core   
to prevent him from regenerating himself, I discovered something   
horrible..." said Usagi, holding back her tears. "He had...   
mutilated her... Serenity..."  
  
She couldn`t finish her story, her tears choking her painfully.   
Chibi-Usa hugged her mother closely- she`d done a lot of that in the   
past week, since Usagi had recovered that final missing piece of her   
memory. No wonder she`d lost her ability to remember those events at   
the time she returned to earth on an escape pod, this had been so   
hard on her.  
  
"Everything will be all right, my darling." said Ikuko as she   
approached her daughter and hugged her as well.  
  
"We`re there for you, honey. No matter what." added Kenji.  
  
Usagi smiled a little. Her parents knowing her big secret had been   
very helpful in her slow recovery.  
  
"Thanks, you guys are the best!" she said with her tears smearing   
her makeup.  
  
* * *  
  
Ami entered the long term care unit of the hospital. All of the   
staff knew her by now, as she had been spending as much time as she   
could afford by her girlfriend`s side, hoping that today, maybe just   
today, she would wake up.  
  
She sat down by the bed, looking at the sleeping Minako. Her hair   
was all tangled up, and her nails were in serious need of a manicure.   
The intravenous lines stuck in her arms were taking care of all her   
nutritive needs, although she wasn`t in need of machine assistance   
to breathe. The electroencephalogram electrodes strapped to her   
forehead showed she still had brainwave activity, but it was growing   
fainter and fainter every day.  
  
"Hi, my love, I`m here." said Ami to her girlfriend. "Class was   
interesting today, we studied the human nervous system in detail,   
from its structure to how it uses neurotransmiters to function..."  
  
She was going to get into more details, but then she stopped.  
  
"Oh, silly me, I`m boring you to death, aren`t I? Fortunately, I   
have something that`s more to your taste."  
  
She looked through her purse and took a small romance novel that   
she bought on her way over. It was one of those girl-meets-boy-  
loses-boy-cries-her-heart-out-finds-boy-again type novels. Ami hated   
those with every fiber of her being, but Minako loved them very much.   
She started to read it out loud, wondering if Minako really could   
hear her... but if she did hear her, then she certainly would enjoy   
listening to one of those romance novels.  
  
* * *  
  
Her lungs needed no air, as she was swimming in an ocean unlike any   
other, for it was in a dream realm of her own making. This water that   
surrounded her and tingled her naked flesh was no more real than the   
dolphins following her in a playful manner.  
  
After spending so much time under water, she had finally crossed this   
huge ocean.  
  
Minako emerged from the water to see the beautiful sunlight shining   
down on the beach where she stepped on. She removed as much water as   
she could from her drenched hair, then noticed that there was   
something lying at her feet. She picked it up and discovered it was   
a beautiful red kimono. Feeling a bit self-conscious about being  
naked for so long, she was glad to cover herself at last.  
  
The cherry red kimono was made of light silk and embroidered with   
intricate patterns of gold threads. It covered little more of her   
legs than a very short skirt would have, and its short sleeves   
wrapped her arms up to the elbows. Nonetheless, it was better than   
the torn scout suit she had been forced to give up.  
  
"This is nice." she said.  
  
Minako walked again, following the beach under the deep blue sky,   
gentle waves crashing softly on her bare feet.  
  
* * *  
  
Walking in the snow covered streets of Tokyo, a tall man with silver   
hair was carefully trying to avoid attention. Fully dressed in warm   
white winter gear, he also kept on some black shades to hide the fact   
that his eyes were also colored of the same glithering silver.  
  
"Of all the crappy assignments, why did it have to be ME??? Loyalty   
can be such a pain at times..." he muttered to himself.  
  
He looked down the end of the street and saw what he`d been searching   
for: one of Tokyo`s many thermal electricity plants. Its many coal   
powered reactor were running full strenght to provide the city with   
the additional power it required to heat itself up.  
  
Gingitsune then looked down at the sewer grating at his feet. It was   
emitting a great amount of steam, as the overheated water used by the   
plant was dumped in there by hundreds of gallons a day. There was not   
an inch of snow around it for a two feet radius.  
  
"Seems like a good place to look." he thought.  
  
Quickly checking if no one was looking, he opened the grating and   
went down. He hoped that THIS ONE was the good one- it was already   
the third sewer sector he had been going into these past two weeks.  
  
* * *  
  
The beach eventually led Minako into a beautiful tropical jungle,   
with huge trees, wild plants and more fragrant flowers than she ever   
thought possible. She followed a small dirt path which seemed to   
have been put there just for her.  
  
On her way through this verdant jungle, she met a young girl who was   
sitting on the branch of a nearby tree. Looking about twelve years   
of age, she had the most beautiful honey blonde long hair and   
shining blue eyes.  
  
"Hello." said Minako, surprised to see someone there.  
  
"Hi." said the shy young girl.  
  
"What`s your name, sweetheart?" asked Minako who never could resist   
the charm of a cute kid.  
  
"Minako." she answered, hopping down to the ground.  
  
"That`s my name too!" answered the older Minako.  
  
"Then... call me little Mina, then!" said the cute little girl.  
  
"Tell me, little Mina, where does this path lead?"  
  
"To the truth about yourself. If you want to go home, you must   
face it."  
  
"Will you show me the way?" asked Minako.  
  
"That`s what I`ve been waiting for all this time." said little Mina,   
taking Minako`s hand and taking her along the winding jungle path.  
  
* * *  
  
Blasting gusts of heated, humid winds greeted Gingitsune at every   
turn, not to mention the awful smell of long contained, stale waters   
loaded with trash and bacteria. Just the kind of rathole he expected   
to see absolutely no one, save the one person he was looking for.  
  
"I know you`re here, Dokuryo! Show yourself!" he said in a   
commanding voice.  
  
A few bubbles rose to the surface of the water, announcing the   
presence of a reptilian being hiding just beneath the surface. His   
blue scales and livid yellow eyes peered through, the frightening   
humanoid lizard showing himself to his former ally.  
  
"What do you want?" grunted the reptile.  
  
"Your loyalty towards the empire is once again required. You are   
expected to return and serve those whom you pledged loyalty to."   
explained the silver haired man.  
  
"In case you hadn`t noticed, our mistress was killed by Sailor Moon   
a few years ago. There is no more empire to serve, and I don`t   
remember pledging loyalty to you. I`m afraid you`re on your own,   
silverfox." observed the blue creature.  
  
"Her legacy lives on through her heir." added Gingitsune.  
  
The toxic dragon froze. The mere mention of his mistress`s daughter   
brought fear into his heart.  
  
"She`s ALIVE?" he asked.  
  
"She certainly is. And she rules over the ashes of our former glory,   
united with her bethrothed. We stand to recover all that was robbed   
from us by those young girls. Are you with us... or against us?!?"   
asked Gingitsune, standing ready to fight his old ally if need be.  
  
"With you. I`m siding with those who can give me the power I   
deserve." said Dokuryo as he crawled out of the water.  
  
"You made the right choice." said Gingitsune, taking a small white   
crystal from his coat pocket.  
  
"What`s that?"  
  
"The instrument of our triumph." answered the silver haired man,   
showing the cold crystal to his old friend. "It will allow us to   
succeed where others have failed."  
  
Gingitsune threw the frost crystal into the boiling water pool near   
the power plant`s used water drain pipe. The burning hot pool where   
Dokuryo was resting froze almost instantly, redirecting the heat   
energy towards some other, unforseable use.  
  
"Incredible... these could gather a lot of energy in no time, if   
put in the right places!" said the reptile.  
  
"That`s the idea... why do you think winter came so soon this   
year???" observed Gingitsune, laughing out loud.  
  
The blue reptile man laughed along- both of them vanished in a dark   
halo of evil black magic.  
  
* * *  
  
It took a while for Minako and little Mina to make it through the   
lush jungle, but they finally emerged into a large glade where they   
found something that blew Minako`s mind away: an ancient pyramid   
of Aztec design... or was it Maya? Or Inca?  
  
"Damn, I should have paid more attention to Ami`s lecture on   
pre-columbian architecture." she thought.  
  
Little Mina pointed to the pyramid and smiled.  
  
"You have to go in there to leave." she said.  
  
"Thank you my small friend." said Minako as she went on her way to   
the immense structure.  
  
"Wait!" said little Mina. "Remember that to leave, you`ll have to   
face yourself!"  
  
Minako wasn`t too sure what that meant, but went on anyway,   
climbing the tall stone staircase.  
  
* * *  
  
Robin was sitting at home, brooding. She hadn`t been quite the same   
since her father Technuma Saturn had fallen into a deep coma.  
  
How ironic it was that the only Technum guardian whose nature made   
him removed enough from the Prime would have suffered this fate...  
  
She was trying so desperately to forget that Technuma would never   
wake up, it only made her remember more. Why wouldn`t these sad   
feelings go away? In her short existence, she had known no sorrow   
before this Gallagher showed up. As it turned out, it was exacting   
a heavy toll on her newborn soul to learn of the negative side of   
emotions.  
  
Fortunately, Robin had some friends who cared.  
  
"Hey, girl, are you going to sit there and sulk all day like you   
did yesterday?" asked Michiru who just walked in the living room   
of their brand new house.  
  
"I am going to visit dad later." she said without emotion.  
  
"That`s all you`ve been doing! School and hospital! Come on, Robin,   
even Ami takes some time off from Minako`s side to get her spirits   
up." added Haruka who followed her fiancee, holding a biking uniform   
not quite large enough for herself. She threw it to Robin. "Have you   
ever felt the thrill of a real motorbike race?"  
  
"Well... I do like new experiences..." said Robin, a faint smile   
returning to her tired face.  
  
"That`s the spirit!" said Michiru.  
  
"Wait... isn`t the whole city under two feet of snow?" wondered   
Robin, who was reverting to her enthusiast self. "We`ll never find   
a track that`ll allow us to race!"  
  
"Oh... you just have to know the right people!" said Haruka with a   
wink. "Come on, girls, Laurella is waiting for us at her dad`s   
corporation..."  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto had some stupid ideas in her life, but this one beat them   
all hands down.  
  
What the hell had she been thinking, trying to take a shortcut   
across town through THIS neighbourhood of all places? The worst   
place for a lonely girl to be, even for a child of Jupiter! Not a   
day went by without a news report of another rapes and murders in   
this area, and she was actually ALONE there!  
  
"Oh man, why didn`t I take that bus when I had a chance?" she asked   
herself, walking down the ever darkening alleys, the autumn sun   
going down over the city much earlier than it did just a few weeks   
before. The tall brunette was feeling a chill crawl up her spine as   
she realized she was being followed, and it had nothing to do with   
the creeping winter chill.  
  
The silhouettes she caught with her last glance above her shoulder   
was nothing to reassure her; she counted no less than six of them,   
and she didn`t even look that long. Just enough to send her heart   
beating strong enough to burst out of her chest. Not that she   
couldn`t defend herself; she was, after all, Sailor Jupiter, but   
she disliked using her powers on ordinary people... and the dark   
alley gangs scared her like hell. It was really a sneaky phobia   
that lurked in a hidden corner of her psyche, waiting to get the   
drop on her unsuspecting mind.  
  
They walked faster. She increased her pace. They did the same. She   
ran. They chased her.  
  
"Why am I so afraid of them?" asked herself the fear striken girl.   
"I faced Beryl and the Wiseman, Rubeus and Prince Diamond!!!"  
  
And yet she couldn`t control it. She ran in sheer terror, not paying   
attention to her surroundings or to the way she was going. Makoto   
turned a corner and entered a dead end alley.  
  
"Where are you going, you tall beauty?" asked one of the more   
muscular goons.  
  
Looking at the brick wall blocking her way, Makoto`s fear slowly   
turned into a pure rush of adrenaline. She was turning into a coiled   
cobra ready to strike.  
  
"Are you going to make this easy? `cause we don`t mind doing what   
it takes to make you see things OUR way." said another, showing a   
metal pipe he carried. The rest of them were also carrying clubs   
and bats.  
  
"BITE ME!" she screamed, springing forward and lashing out with all   
her strenght. Her initial attack left three of them senseless on   
the floor.  
  
The surprise effect gone, the remaining seven hooligans dashed   
forwards, quickly surrounding her and striking from all sides at   
once. For each blow she struck, three more came in response. She was   
rapidly losing ground, but she wouldn`t bow down. With a swift knee   
kick and two uppercuts, it got down to only one thug and herself.   
She bled from many cuts, but she was having such a rush beating   
these clowns up that she barely noticed.  
  
"`ts you `n me... now..." she mumbled, catching her breath before   
finishing this off.  
  
"And it ain`t gonna be me." said the short thug, pulling a gun from   
his pocket.  
  
Makoto barely had time to realize what was happening before she   
heard a loud BANG and fell down in the thick layer of snow on the   
ground, a burning pain tearing her stomach apart.  
  
* * *  
  
The inside of the ancient pyramid, for some unfathomable reason,   
was much larger inside than it was on the outside.  
  
"Cool." thought Minako when she noticed this architectural paradox.  
  
Although it was so much bigger than she expected, it was otherwise   
identical to the mental image she had of what an ancient south   
american temple should look like from the inside. Huge statues of   
forgotten deities were staring down at her from their granite   
pedestals, seeming to be in perpetual fury from the gold and red   
dancing lights of the blazing bonfires placed in strategic locations   
for maximum effect.  
  
Standing all the way across the dusty hall stood waiting an image of   
someone she thought she`d left behind in England a long time ago.  
  
"Long time no see." said coldly the passive Sailor V.  
  
"I thought I`d never see you again." said Minako.  
  
"That`s the problem you see. You always abandon everyone around you   
when it suits your selfish purposes. Leaving your friends behind in   
Japan when you moved to England, turning your back on Laurella when   
she needed you most! Did you ever even bother to see if she was okay   
when you returned to Tokyo?" said Sailor V.  
  
"That`s a lie and you know it. I had no choice in the decision to   
move!" argued Minako.  
  
"And what about studying in Japan while your father remained in   
Europe, that wasn`t your decision maybe? And not even writing to   
Laurella, do you have someone to blame for that too? Would you hold   
Usagi responsible for turning a blind eye to Laurella`s suicide   
attempt???" said Sailor V accusingly.  
  
Minako slapped her hard.  
  
"How dare you accuse me like that?!? You don`t know the hell of   
solitude I`ve faced! If it hadn`t been for Usagi and the others...   
god knows where I`d be now." defended Minako.  
  
"Dead, most likely... you were a loner as Sailor V, and a   
headstrong fighter who didn`t know how to ask others for help."   
said Sailor V, smiling for the first time.  
  
"Why were you being so mean to me?" wondered Minako.  
  
"You knew that you were lonely deep inside. I wanted you to realize   
how much your friends were important to you, you know?"  
  
"Yes, I do. Thank you." said Minako, holding her alter ego from the   
past. "So how do I get out of this place?"  
  
"Just follow the yellow brick road." said V, pointing to a path of   
golden stones leading to a large door that seemed to have appeared   
just now.  
  
"A bit cliche, don`t you think?" wondered Minako.  
  
"Don`t look at me! It`s YOUR dream!!!" replied Sailor V.  
  
* * *  
  
The lowest criminal elements loved to see blood, violence and a   
brutal combat leading to the crushing defeat of a humiliated fighter.   
That`s why the gambling never stopped in the old warehouse number 47   
of the Tokyo docks, the best underworld pit fighting arena in town.  
  
Gingitsune smiled as he took a peek at the fight in progress,   
regretting not having any money to place a bet himself. His uncanny   
ability to size up anyone and almost instantly detect any hidden   
weaknesses was telling him that the tallest fighter had a congenital   
kidney defect, and the first blow to land there would most likely   
kill him on the spot.  
  
"That`s not why you`re here, fox!" he told himself, then went past   
through the bloodthirsty crowd in direction of the place where he   
was awaited.  
  
With the sound of the cheers dying down as he walked towards the   
"office" of an old acquaintance from his former days of glory. He   
knocked at the door to the adjacent building (which also doubled as   
an escape exit) and entered the dark room devoid of furniture. The   
silver haired man searched the wall for a light switch, but was   
quickly ordered against it.  
  
"Keep the lights down." said a voice in the dark.  
  
"Ghangoroth?" asked Gingitsune.  
  
A silhouette draped in total absence of light moved slightly, just   
enough that his form could be detected against the darkness of the   
empty room. A sudden burst of heatless flames engulfed the head of   
Ghangoroth, both sending an ominous red glow around the room and   
dissimulating his face in a dark shadow. Although he had no real   
intention of using his psychic powers in his old friend`s presence,   
he kept them on standby simply so that he could expend a little   
mental energy. These cold flames surging around his skull were no   
more than a waste byproduct of his unique abilities, but he had   
learned to make them work to his advantage as an intimidation tool.  
  
"Why are you here?" asked the ominous figure.  
  
"To call on your oath to the empire that shall be reborn." he   
answered.  
  
"The Queen is dead. Slain. The ancient powers have fallen." said   
Ghangoroth with no intonation in his monochord voice.  
  
"The legacy lives on, my friend. The new blood calls upon our   
service again."  
  
Silence fell for several minutes as the most powerful psionic earth   
had ever seen thought over these arguments, his cerebral fire   
burning strongly along with his mental activity.  
  
"I shall be there. Leave." said Ghangoroth.  
  
Without a word, Gingitsune left the odd man alone in the renewed   
darkness of his "office" as his psychic flames died down.  
  
Reentering the arena area, he heard a horrible scream come from one   
of the fighters. He had just been kicked to the right kidney, and   
had collapsed immediately, dying seconds later.  
  
"I knew I should have brought some cash." thought Gingitsune.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako wondered how long this road would be. It had taken her days   
just to go through the grassy plain and weeks to swim across the   
ocean even with the dolphins carrying her part of the way. Somehow,   
it was much shorter than she would have thought. After barely a few   
hours walk, she met the wizard waiting at the end of the yellow   
brick road. It looked just like a certain white cat she knew so   
well.  
  
"Is there no door at the end of this road?" she asked the white cat   
whose forehead bore a golden crescent moon.  
  
"Yes, but only one that you can create yourself." said the cat.  
  
"I don`t get it." she replied.  
  
"Don`t you?" asked the cat. "You made this trip out of your own will   
to discover yourself... did you learn anything?"  
  
"Yes, plenty."  
  
"And are you ready to return home at last, your soul healed and   
stronger than before?"  
  
"YES!!!" said Minako, with more resolve than she`d ever felt.  
  
"Then go home, Minako, and bring back this knowledge you gained!"  
  
Minako raised her arms in the air, and her soul form began to glow   
in a radiant golden light. A huge portal opened in front of her and   
she stepped through.  
  
* * *  
  
A blinding gold flash awoke Ami who had fallen asleep while reading   
the cheap romance novel out loud to her comatose girlfriend. She   
slightly opened her eyes, and witnessed a glorious sight: the fully   
healed Minako stood before her, in a senshi fuku drawn in shades of   
honey, gold and black, complete with the matching visor and metal   
guards. She had a radiant smile on her face, the same kind of   
happiness displayed by those who see the light of divine revelation.   
On her right thigh were the characters for KOI NO SENSHI, warrior   
of love.  
  
"Minako... you`re awake!" said Ami, unable to contain tears of joy.  
  
"Yes... and this time, nothing will tear us apart." she said. Minako   
held Ami by the waist and hugged her tight, the better to give her a   
passionate peach flavored kiss.  
  
Both of them were ecstatic with unbridled joy.  
  
* * *  
  
A few floors up, a different awakening was preparing itself.  
  
Makoto woke up in a familiar setting, although it was from a   
different perspective completely. The hospital fluorescent lights   
shone down upon her face, but it mattered little as the pain she   
was feeling was nothing short of torture.  
  
Then she remembered the fight. And the gun shot.  
  
"My god, I was almost killed by a common thug with a saturday night   
special!" she thought.  
  
She tried moving, but the pain in her chest was excrutiating, but   
oddly enough her stomach and lower back were totally pain free.  
  
"Wow, these pain killers are fantastic." she thought. "I`m so numb   
I don`t even feel my lower body!"  
  
A tall blonde man entered her room, dressed in blue jeans and a   
matching turtleneck. His green eyes sparkled with compassion.  
  
"Hey, he looks like my old boyfriend." thought Makoto. Of course,   
any man with mo major disfiguring scars looked like that to her.  
  
"Hi, I`m Xavier. I found you in the alley, lying in your own   
blood... I came as soon as I heard a gunshot and brought you here.   
You had no wallet in your purse or identification of any kind, so   
we had no idea how to join your family." said Xavier.  
  
"I`m Kino Makoto, and I don`t have any family... except the family   
me and my close friends form. I can give you phone numbers to join   
them. And thanks for helping me..." she said, smiling faintly.  
  
"Makoto... the doctors have told me about your injuries... you   
should know the truth." Xavier said in a grave tone of voice.  
  
"Oh yeah... speaking of that, would you thank them for the pain   
killers? I don`t feel a thing where the shot hit me."  
  
"That`s the problem. You have no drugs in your body at all. Your   
lower spine was hit, it was shattered. The doctors say you...   
you..." hesitated the cute tall man, holding Makoto in suspense.  
  
"That I what?"  
  
"...that you`ll never walk again." he finished, a tear running   
down his cheek.  
  
She was stunned. Xavier was awaiting anything from her, total denial,   
burning anger, loud sobbing, anything. Instead, she just closed her   
eyes and sobbed silently. Xavier held her hands in support, to let   
her know he was there.  
  
Makoto couldn`t believe that she`d finally met a really great guy   
only because she`d been shot and lost total use of her legs. Life   
was giving her something she always wanted, but only by taking away   
something else she took for granted.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	25. Knock On Wood

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
Breathing slowly and regularly, the once mighty Technuma Saturn slept   
in a state of coma from which he would never wake up. In the falling   
darkness of a new night, the evening shift nurse turned off the   
lights in his room.  
  
A few minutes after she left, a strange shadow emerged out of the   
pure darkness and its tall, bulky silhouette towered over the   
soulless body of Technuma. Moving slowly towards him, it mumbled   
to itself.  
  
"So long I have waited lurking in shadows... and now the tool of   
my resurrection is mine to take! Your demise will not be in vain,   
powerful one..."  
  
Steps could be heard from the corridor, and the moving shadow   
stopped; as Robin Redwing entered the room and turned on the bright   
fluorescent lights, it disappeared with the shredded veil of pitch   
blackness.  
  
"Hiya, dad..." said Robin. "It`s tough living my life knowing you`re   
here like this, but Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna are helping a lot..."  
  
While Robin went on to tell her comatose father of the motorcycle   
races she had been to with her friends, the now shapeless   
non-corporeal entity floated about patiently. No matter if the girl  
had delayed his dark rebirth, his new body would not be going   
anywhere, and he had all the time in the world... he could wait.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 25  
  
KNOCK ON WOOD  
  
  
"That recovery is quite amazing, miss Aino." said the doctor as he   
checked Minako`s pupils for reactions to his small flashlight. He   
found her eyes to be reacting normally. "I don`t foresee any   
troubles. We would have seen it by now."  
  
"Oh, Minako, I was so afraid you`d never come back to us!" said her   
mother as she hugged her daughter who was beginning to be quite   
tired of having to stay in a hospital bed... doctor`s orders her mom   
had reminded her.  
  
"I wouldn`t leave so soon, mom. I have too much to live for." she   
answered, looking over her mother`s shoulder directly into Ami`s eyes   
where she saw all the love the smart girl had for her.  
  
"I have so much to tell you, all the things that happened since you   
were wounded in that gas leak explosion..." said Ami.  
  
Unable (or unwilling) to explain the battle against Gallagher at   
the art museum, the police had finally blamed the destruction on a   
spark meeting natural gas from a leaky pipe. All over the internet,   
however, conspiracy theorists were having a field day trying to   
explain yet another sailor related event.  
  
"So I guess that all of us girls will be finally out of this place!"   
said Minako, who now had fully recovered her trademark chirpy   
optimism.  
  
"Not quite, I`m afraid..." said Ami, lowering her eyes, not knowing   
how to break the bad news to her girlfriend. "Makoto had... an   
accident."  
  
* * *  
  
Staring mindlessly at the chattering television provided with her   
hospital bed, Makoto looked as no more than a shadow of her former   
self. Her face was virtually unrecognizable, her eyes swollen from   
crying so much. Her hair was totally messed up, and she didn`t care   
either way.  
  
She turned her head and stared at her meal platter. Filled with   
tasteless, disgusting food, it only reminded her of the life she`d   
always dreamed of, as a world class gourmet chef, working for the   
greatest restaurant of Japan.  
  
Her dream was crushed now, and as far as she was concerned, her   
life was over.  
  
Laurella wrapped on the open door to announce her presence. She   
looked at her dear friend and felt her pain immediately.  
  
"Hi, Makoto. I came as soon as I heard... how are you holding up?"   
she asked with her great compassion.  
  
"How do you think I feel? I have no feeling under my waist, that`s   
what." snapped Makoto without an ounce of kindness. Laurella felt   
the virulent comment sting like a snakebite, but she pretended she   
didn`t hear it.  
  
"I realize how difficult this must be for you, trust me, I`ve been   
through a lot myself. But you can`t make it through alone, you must   
open yourself up, reach out for your friends... we care for you."   
said Laurella.  
  
"Do you? Well I don`t. All my dreams ended last night with a bullet   
down my spine! If you want to do me a favor, you`ll turn back and   
never return. Don`t bother wondering how I`ll be spending the rest   
of my days, because it probably won`t be long anyway." replied   
Makoto, sending more waves of indifference towards Laurella.  
  
The child of Jupiter was hoping that she`d go away and leave her   
alone to wallow in her own misery. That wasn`t even close to the   
reaction she got. Laurella`s mood suddenly shifted from gentle   
kindness to vicious anger, the usually calm girl giving Makoto a   
slap that shocked her as much from the stinging pain as from the   
unexpected nature of the act.  
  
"What did you do THAT for?!?" asked Makoto, touching her reddened   
cheek.  
  
"HAVE I TAUGHT YOU NOTHING???" screamed Laurella, showing her   
horribly scarred wrists to her friend. "Your life is the most   
precious gift your parents have ever given you, you owe it to them   
to live every day to the fullest! It doesn`t matter what life throws   
your way, you just have to find new ways to deal with the obstacles   
you meet." she said, furiously venting her anger and slowly calming   
down.  
  
An uncomfortable silence settled between the two of them for a few   
minutes while Makoto pondered both her friend`s words and the dull   
throbbing pain in her face.  
  
"What now?" asked the much less gloomy Makoto. "I`ll never walk   
again... even when my spine heals, my whole life needs a total   
overhaul!"  
  
"Yeah, like your powers, for starters. What effect would have your   
transformation in your condition?" wondered Laurella. "Have you even   
considered changing again into Sailor Jupiter?"  
  
"No such luck, I`m afraid. I checked my purse this morning, it was   
emptied by that bastard who shot me. My money, my credit cards,   
everything valuable was gone... including my transformation pen.   
It`s gone for good." answered Makoto.  
  
"Maybe MY new powers can be of help, in that case!" said a voice   
Makoto hadn`t heard in weeks.  
  
"MINAKO! You`re awake!" she said, tears of joy streamng down her   
face. The blonde girl sat on her friend`s bed and hugged her   
carefully not to hurt her braced lower back.  
  
"It`s been a while, Makoto. I`m itching for some action, I`ll find   
your pen if it`s the last thing I do!" said Minako. "This soul power   
is SUCH A RUSH! I`ll track down your pen and the guy who shot you   
as well... I`ll serve you his head on a silver plate!"  
  
"No need to do that, girl... his head on a spear will do just fine!"   
said Makoto with a wicked grin and a wink.  
  
* * *  
  
In all his years of handling hot merchandise, the owner of the most   
questionably "honest" pawn shop of the Shinjuku district had seen   
quite a bit of jewelry, some of it unusual. THIS, however, was   
downright weird: a small golden pen-shaped object with a star on   
top, as well as a symbol that vaguely ressembled the number four.  
  
"Where d`ya get it?" asked the slightly overweight man whose   
receeding hairline had obviously   
seen better days.  
  
"Since when do you ask questions, baldy?" said the prospective seller,   
a dubious looking twenty something bum.  
  
"I don`t like that thing, it gives me the creeps."  
  
"Don`t try to weasel me out of what it`s really worth, I want   
twenty thousand yens, no less!"  
  
"Take ten thousand or leave."  
  
"Okay, but you`re screwing me again." finally agreed the young man   
dressed in worn out denim clothes.  
  
Alone in his crappy store filled with old guitars, half working VCRs   
and jewelry of debatable value, the fat man observed the small   
artifact in the light of the flickering light bulb he still hadn`t   
gotten around to change yet.  
  
"Ahem." said a soft feminine voice behind him, at the counter.  
  
"We don`t get that many ladies in here..." said the shop owner,   
smiling until he fully turned around and noticed the double-bladed   
topaze broadsword aimed at his throat. It was held by the soul   
powered Sailor Venus in all the splendor of her honey, gold and   
black senshi fuku. The flickering lights reflected menacingly on her   
golden metal guards and yellow visor.  
  
"My sacred weapon, DreadBane, does very well of cutting and slicing   
through fat... care for a hands on demonstration?" she said.  
  
The old man had seen his share of robberies and muggings, and this   
weird girl didn`t fit the profile. She wasn`t nervous, or on   
withdrawal from crack... and who robs a store with a solid gemstone   
sword?!?  
  
"Wadda ya want?"  
  
"That little trinket you hold in your sweaty hand, it belongs to a   
good friend of mine... a VERY good friend."  
  
"So, you` that way, huh?" said the balding man.  
  
Venus pushed the sword closer, until it actually touched his flabby   
skin. He felt the cold sharp pink gemstone touch him, and he got   
REALLY scared.  
  
"One more crack about my sexual orientation and I`ll be slicing me   
some pork chops!" she said.  
  
"Take it easy, I couldn`t know!!!" he pleaded.  
  
"Give me the bauble, and start talking." she ordered. He did.  
  
"Lil`Jimmy brought this, said his friend found it in a dumpster,   
gave him ten thousand for it... he hangs around the nine ball pool   
hall... that`s all I know, I swear!!!" he said, tossing the jupiter   
wand to the senshi who caught it deftly in her left hand.  
  
"Thank you." she said, leaving the dirty store.  
  
The fat man counted his blessings, happy to be rid of this wacko   
girl and of that accursed trinket she wanted so much. It was trouble   
from the start, he knew it. Good riddance.  
  
* * *  
  
"I can`t believe I`ve never been here before." said Robin as she   
saw the fog shrouded mountain plateau where Haruka and Michiru`s   
favorite hot springs were located. "So these springs are ALWAYS   
hot?"  
  
"Always, because they`re heated by underground volcanic activity!"   
said Michiru. "Plus the sulfurous water is just heavenly for your   
pores."  
  
"And don`t forget to mention the view! When the wind clears up a   
bit of fog, you can see all around, all the way to Tokyo sometimes."   
added Haruka as she parked the car and picked up her carry-all from   
the trunk of her bright red sportscar.  
  
"Sounds delicious!" commented Robin.  
  
For a second there, Michiru thought she saw a man enter the resort...   
a man with glithering silver hair. Odd looking, she thought, but   
cute nonetheless in a graceful way.  
  
* * *  
  
"Eight ball to the side pocket!" said little Jimmy as he lined up   
for the shot; surely enough he got it right on target. After   
spending years hanging around pool halls, he was nearly unbeatable   
at the game.  
  
"Damn, that`s almost a hundred thousand yens I owe you, little   
weasel!" said his frustrated opponent.  
  
"Hey, I didn`t twist your arm to make the bet!" replied the young   
hoodlum. "I gotta go to the bathroom, be back in five."  
  
"Take your time, I`m in no hurry to lose again."  
  
Jimmy entered the smelly men`s room and took a look around, trying   
to figure would be the least disgusting to use. He wondered why he   
always had so much beer in here, especially with those disgustng   
bathroom stalls... but what he saw there made the whole place look   
somewhat different this time.  
  
"Are you little Jimmy?" asked the most beautiful girl he`d ever seen,   
with flowing blonde hair and a delicate face. Her voice was very   
sweet too. She wore a really weird looking suit, but that made no   
difference to him, he wanted her.  
  
"I`m far from being little, I assure you girl!" he answered, a wide   
grin on his face.  
  
The seductive senshi of love alluringly walked towards him, swaying   
her hips and caressing her body. Jimmy was turned on like he`d never   
been before... which is precisely why he never saw coming the solid   
punch to his jaw that knocked him down on the water covered floor.   
Venus picked him up by the collar and shoved the jupiter pen in his   
face.  
  
"Where did you this?" she asked with no kindness in her voice.  
  
"I found it in the trash..." he blurted out.  
  
"Wrong answer." replied the irrate senshi. She dragged him into a   
toilet stall and forcibly stuck his head in the dirty water, holding   
him until he couldn`t hold his breath anymore.  
  
"Well, ready to change your story?" she asked again, as Jimmy gasped   
for air, his hair drenched in disgusting toilet water.  
  
"I did, I really..."  
  
He didn`t have time to finish his answer, his head sinking down the   
water again under the strong grasp of sailor Venus. He started to   
run out of air, but this time she held him a bit longer until he   
gasped, swallowing a little water. Then she pulled him out.  
  
"WHERE???" she screamed.  
  
"From the Panthers, down at the docks, they randomly attack those   
they find... (cough)...they rob them and sometimes kill them... he   
got that thing from a tall girl that fought back better than the   
others... that`s all I know, please stop hurting me!!!" he begged,   
crying pathetically.  
  
"You sicken me, you slimy maggot!" said Venus without unclenching   
her teeth. She violently slammed his head back down, breaking his   
nose on the dirty enamel of the toilet.  
  
Little Jimmy screamed in pain as blood spurted from his crushed nose;   
the berserk Sailor Venus threw him all the way across the bathroom   
out the springing door and he landed brutally on the pool hall floor   
in view of all, sobbing and bleeding.  
  
This next piece of the Makoto shooting in place, Venus made a quick   
exit throught the men`s room window, jumping high and bouncing fron   
wall to wall with ninja-like dexterity in direction of the place   
where she knew she`d find her friend`s trigger-happy mugger. Blood   
pumped hard in her veins like it hadn`t in years. She was brutal in   
her effienciency, lethal in her movements, deadly in her intent.   
Minako understood what her dream meeting with her old Sailor V self   
meant, as she experienced once again the rush of fighting the common   
thugs of the underworld of the city.  
  
Once again she had become Sailor V, the inescapable sword of justice,   
the murderous cypher of vengence. She loved every second of it.  
  
* * *  
  
Holding on to her all too small towel, the only thing between her   
naked body and the cold winter air, Robin dipped her toes in the hot   
water laced with the rotten egg smell of sulfur. It was wonderful to   
feel this warmth in contrast to the biting cold air around her.  
  
"Come on in, it`s very soothing!" urged Michiru who was already in   
up to her shoulders, her hair tied up in a bun to keep it from   
dipping in the hot spring.  
  
Haruka was in the warm smelly water as well, although she felt   
somewhat uncomfortable. Just sitting in a pool of water doing   
nothing got on her nerves. Her face was already beginning to  
show signs of frustration, although she did her best to hide it;   
Haruka knew how much Michiru loved this place and wanted her to   
enjoy it to the fullest.  
  
Robin slipped off her towel and flung it over the side of the   
spring as she immersed herself completely, letting out a loud moan.  
  
"This is sooooo good!" she whispered.  
  
"I know. We come here as often as we can." said Michiru, moving   
closer to Haruka and leaning her head on her lover`s shoulder.  
  
After a few minutes, Robin began to feel a little restless from   
sitting down in silence. Seeing how her two friends were murmuring   
softly to each other and not paying any attention to her, she  
discreetly slipped to the other side of the water pool. She heard   
some noise and was wondering if there were other people at the   
neighbouring pool.  
  
Robin peeked through the hedge separating the two springs, knowing   
well that the one on the other side was for men only... she giggled   
as she heard some male voices approaching through the fog. She   
opened her eyes wide, hoping she could get a good peek... after all,   
for all she knew of the male anatomy, she`d never actually SEEN a   
naked man before.  
  
To her great disappointment, the four men who were coming weren`t   
wrapped in towels as she`d expected... they actually wore full suits,   
the first man, silver-haired, was dressed in a charcoal grey three-  
piece suit with a matching winter coat. The other three, who looked   
like they were triplets, wore similar suits although theirs were   
respectively ice blue, fire red and dark black.  
  
"This place seems to be closest to the heat point we found." said   
the man in blue.  
  
"It will be best to set up the crystal here." added the man in red.  
  
"We`ll get the most energy this way." completed the man in black.  
  
"It`s agreed, then. We proceed." said the man in charcoal grey.  
  
Robin watched in fascination as the silver haired man, apparently   
their leader, took out a small, shiny crystal from his coat pocket.   
The fog shroud seemed to curl and twist around it, waves of cold   
surging forth from within the gemstone.  
  
"Look at it, boys, this is the greatest marvel that we have ever   
forged, the most fabulous mineral in existence... pure aebonite!"   
he said, his acolytes enthralled by the energy displacement   
provoked around the aebonite crystal.  
  
At this point, Robin understood there was trouble brewing.  
  
Gingitsune threw the frost crystal into the warm spring, which   
began to slowly cool down, a thin layer of ice forming on the   
surface. Through the freezing waters, they could see the crystal  
digging its way down to the very source of the volcanic heat within.  
  
Goosebumps ran down all over the young girl`s skin as the water she   
waded in froze over as well. Jumping out in the even colder air,   
there was only one thing she thought of: warm clothes. And she knew   
exactly how to get that.  
  
"SATURN SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!!!"  
  
A beaming golden light radiated from her whole body, coating her   
naked skin with the fuku of the senshi of the skyes, the mighty   
Sailor Saturn. This display of raw power caught the attention of   
the quatuor. The sacred weapon of Saturn, the ruby glaive Soulstar,   
materialized in her hands as she addressed them boldly.  
  
"How dare you ruin my hot bath? Furthermore, who do you think you   
are to destroy this most restful of places?!?"  
  
Gingitsune was a bit surprised to see her, but only because he had   
expected one of the inner senshi instead of Sailor Saturn. He was   
far from impressed, though.  
  
"Destroy her." he whispered to his acolytes.  
  
From the hands of the strange men with identical faces surged   
energies that turned into three blasts of power, ice, fire and black   
lightning. In one swift leap, Saturn gracefully avoided the explosion   
of the three blasts impacting on the focal point that was the spot   
where she stood just a second ago.  
  
Landing with the agility of a cat, she was ready for this. A wicked   
grin flashed on her lips as she raised Soulstar up high and called   
forth the ancient angelic batallions of paradise.  
  
"SERAPHIM WINGS OR WRATH!!!"  
  
The four men froze in fearful expectation, waiting for some horrific   
doom to fall down from the heavens. Nothing happened. The three   
acolytes attacked simultaneously.  
  
"FIRE ALPHA!"  
  
"ICE BETA!"  
  
"THUNDER GAMMA!"   
  
"DELTA STRIKE!!!" they screamed in unison as their power blasts   
merged into a raging bolt of doom.  
  
The attack connected with Saturn, exploding violently and sending   
her flying back into the cooling women`s spring where Haruka and   
Michiru saw her splashing entrance.  
  
"Get her out of there, I`ll handle this!" said Sailor Uranus to   
Neptune after she finished her radiant transformation. Uranus ran to   
meet the four villains head on while her fiancee fished the   
unconscious Saturn seconds before the water froze solid.  
  
"WORLD SHAKING..." started Uranus, but a screeching kinetic bolt hit   
her right arm as she was charging energy to unleash her attack.   
Gingitsune`s uncanny ability to find weak spots had once again   
served him well, aiming his blast to perfection without fail.  
  
"Damn, that hurt..." thought Uranus who felt something crack when   
she was hit.  
  
"My turn now!" said Neptune who joined in the fight. "DEEP WATER   
TSUNAMI CRUSHER!!!"  
  
Once again, nothing. Twice in a row, the ultimate senshi attacks   
had utterly failed to work.  
  
The acolytes had no such trouble, however.  
  
"FIRE ALPHA!"  
  
"ICE BETA!"  
  
"THUNDER GAMMA!"   
  
"DELTA STRIKE!!!" they all yelled, another blazing towards the   
heroes. It detonated at Neptune`s feet, sending her reeling over the   
railing that had been put in place to prevent anyone from falling   
down the mountainside. she barely hung on to the rail, but it   
snapped at one end and threatened to plunge her over a hundred feet   
down on a sheer bedrock landing place.  
  
Sailor Uranus, her heart skipping a beat as she saw her lover in   
mortal danger, ran to her and grabbed her using her intact left arm.  
  
"I`ll save you!" she said.  
  
"I know." said Neptune, looking up into Uranus`s eyes.  
  
Gingitsune shot another bolt, this one detonating right under the   
blonde tomboy who was sent hurtling over the edge, although she   
managed to hold on to BOTH Neptune and the broken metal railing...   
but how long could she hold on? Unknown to the heroic fighter, her   
right forearm had a hairline fracture to the radius. The pain going   
through her arm as she held on the weight of herself and Michiru was   
excrutiating, and the senshi of the sea could easily read it off her  
face.  
  
"You can`t hold on to both of us and climb back up with that wounded   
arm, you`ll have to let me go if you want to survive!" said Neptune.  
  
"Like hell I am! Either we both live or we both die!!!" replied   
Uranus, tears of pain flowing down her face.  
  
"If you love me... you`ll let go!" begged Neptune.  
  
"No way! I`ll hold on to you even if..."  
  
Uranus didn`t finish her thought before it actually happened: the   
hairline fracture snapped, breaking her radius apart. Still she held   
on to the railing and the love of her life, though this was the most   
horrible pain she`d ever experienced, and never again would   
experience. Her love for Michiru was truly stronger than this pain,   
and her emotions flared upwards from her soul in a moment of pure   
clarity.  
  
Gingitsune was approaching to finish them off when he heard the   
blood-curdling scream of Uranus and saw of flash of golden light   
from under the ledge; before he could look over to see what was  
happening, he was bowled over by a surging ball of soaring gold   
light the size of a small car.  
  
Looking at the streak of light, Gingitsune saw it fade down to   
reveal the newest senshi to have found her soul power, Sailor Uranus.   
Wearing the senshi fuku in shades of bright blue and green shades,   
she held in her right hand the glithering Heaven`s Wrath, a katana   
crafted from a single piece of shining black onyx. On her right   
thigh were the characters for TEN NO SENSHI, warrior of heavens,   
and her right arm was completely healed. Neptune was standing right   
behind her, holding her waist tightly.  
  
Unmoved by this display, the three goons of Gingitsune struck   
again.   
  
"FIRE ALPHA!"  
  
"ICE BETA!"  
  
"THUNDER GAMMA!"   
  
"DELTA STRIKE!!!"   
  
Unflinching in her defiant stand, Uranus deflected the bolt upwards   
with Heaven`s Wrath. It exploded harmlessly high in the air.  
  
"Wanna see a magic trick?" asked the senshi of Uranus. "I`ll make   
you all... disappear!"  
  
She swung Heaven`s Wrath in large circles above her head, building   
up power and intensity in the blade. She made the circles smaller   
and smaller, until she concentrated all that power into a single   
spot.  
  
"HEAVEN`S BLADE ERRADICATOR!!!" she screamed, propelling the sphere   
of blazing white power forward. It grew in size rapidly as it   
progressed, reaching six feet of diameter after only two seconds   
of forward movement. It kept on increasing in size, swallowing all   
in its path and mercilessly carving a path of oblivion for itself   
and leaving a dreadful wake of destruction behind.  
  
The three acolytes were struck full on by the sphere and got   
erradicated instantly. Gingitsune dodged just barely and teleported   
himself away in the nick of time. By the time the sphere grew to its   
limit in size and reached the end of its course of death, it was   
carving deep enough in the rock to hit the crystal of aebonite and   
obliterate it as well. The water returned to its former liquid state,   
boiling again and reforming the fog. The trio of senshi took this   
opportunity to sneak away from the scene of the fight.  
  
* * *  
  
Looking at the TV news, Makoto saw a report about an old warehouse   
burning down in the docks.  
  
"Insurance fraud, that`s for sure." she thought immediately.  
  
Then she heard there was a victim found in the blaze, and the police   
thought there had been foul play involved. An autopsy would be later   
performed. Makoto couldn`t believe it: the picture of the victim...   
it was the same guy who shot her!  
  
"Oh no, Minako, you didn`t..." thought Makoto, feeling horrible that   
she could have pushed her dear friend to cold blooded murder... "I   
can`t believe it... I won`t believe it!"  
  
* * *  
  
Reforming himself in the hideout of his leader, Gingitsune realized   
that he had just been inflicted his first defeat.  
  
"What happened?" asked a soft masculine voice behind him. Gingitsune   
turned around and looked at the immense statue of Metallia looming   
over him, at the lower end of which was carved a throne that had   
been Beryl`s seat of power so many years before. It was bathed in   
deep shadows, but the evil eyes glowing through could not be mistaken   
for any other.  
  
"I have... met them, Lord. They are much stronger than we thought,   
only one of the three I fought wore the stupid sailor suit I   
remembered from the moon battle... and later, even she changed into   
the warrior outfit the other two were wearing! They are powerful   
indeed, milord." said Gingitsune.  
  
"Do not worry, you`ll face them again before all this is over." said   
the soft whispering voice.  
  
"I`ll kill them next time, I vow it!"  
  
"Yes, you will... or you will die yourself."  
  
Although the silver fox`s lord didn`t mention explicitly wether that   
would be by his enemies` hands or by his own master`s, there was no   
doubt in Gingitsune`s mind that his lord would not hesitate a second   
to have him executed. Repressing a shudder, he bowed and exited the   
throne room.  
  
* * *  
  
Going to see her good friend Makoto, whom she was told had much   
better morale now, Usagi and Chibi-Usa walked through the very   
familiar hospital corridors they had been seeing way too much of   
these past few weeks.  
  
"You know, I was wondering about something..." said Chibi-Usa to   
Usagi, holding her hand while they went through the darkening   
corridors of the advancing evening.  
  
"What is it?" asked Usagi who was pretending that she wasn`t lost   
in the maze of corridors and rooms, because she actually was.  
  
"Can the actions someone take really change your destiny for the   
better? Can they turn you around and bring you salvation?" asked   
the pink haired girl.  
  
"That`s pretty deep... well, yes, I do." answered Usagi. "The dark   
moon sisters did change their ways, and now they live happy lives   
among us. Many other of our former enemies saw the light as well...   
why the question?"  
  
"I was simply curious if a tainted soul really could heal over time...   
besides, I heard you tell Mamoru this morning that if he was a good   
boy, he`d get lucky tonight." said Chibi-Usa who obviously didn`t   
understand what that meant. Usagi almost choked.  
  
Before she could react and try to squirm herself into an improvised   
explanation, Usagi saw down the corridor something that gave her a   
chill- a huge shadowy silhouette walking into a dark room. This   
shadow had a familiar feel to it, one she feared to recognize.  
  
"Stay here, Chibi-Usa, I`ll go check it out!" she said.  
  
"But..."  
  
"No 'but' small lady, you stay right here!" she ordered, running to   
the room. As she blasted in the room where only a faint glimmer of   
moonlight was seen, she recognized the comatose body of Technuma   
Saturn... with a hulking shadow menacingly looming overhead.   
  
She jumped forward and tried to stop the silhouette from reaching   
her friend`s father, to no avail. It had no physical form to damage,   
so it was able to enter his body and take it over without Usagi being   
able to do a thing about it. After weeks of total immobility,   
Technuma Saturn suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Usagi, a   
wicked red glow surging in his gaze.  
  
He stood up and laughed in a sinister fashion.  
  
"I know Technuma, and he`s not evil looking like you! Who are you???"   
asked Usagi, afraid that she might already know the answer to that...  
  
"You don`t recognize me, young Sailor Moon? After all, I only killed   
your best friend after kidnapping you to drain your power..." taunted   
the resurrected monster from Usagi`s past.  
  
"Ronmar..." she blurted, struck by terror.  
  
"So you DO remember me!"  
  
"But... how???"  
  
"Greater knightmares such as myself never die... we just move on,   
taking over bodies without souls. They are quite hard to find, and   
THIS ONE is the find of the millenium, that`s for sure!" mocked the   
dread knight reborn.  
  
"You... MONSTER!" screamed Usagi. She instantly transformed into   
Sailor Moon, ready to do battle.  
  
"I`m not fighting today, I have bigger fish to fry." said Ronmar   
as he materialized over his body some opaque, black clothes that   
didn`t reflect a single speck of light.  
  
"Fight me, you bastard! I order you to attack me so I can kill   
you!!!" said Sailor Moon.  
  
"No. I have no more quarrels with you." he said, materializing some   
dark shades for further dramatic effect. As he turned around, he   
noticed a pink-haired seven years old girl staring at him. He froze   
and lowered his shades, staring straight into her firey red eyes.  
  
"Who are you, cutie?" asked Ronmar.  
  
Before Chibi-Usa could answer, Sailor Moon ran to her and picked her   
up, hugging her tight in a protective fashion.  
  
"I WON`T LET YOU HURT A HAIR ON HER HEAD, YOU MONSTER, SO STAY AWAY   
FROM HER!!!" yelled the senshi of the moon.  
  
"You can`t keep me away, not even with the help of your sailor   
friends... but I agree, nothing will happen to this little lady.   
NOTHING. I promise you that."  
  
With that, Ronmar turned around and vanished in a cloud of acrid   
smoke.  
  
Sailor Moon let out a sigh of desperation.  
  
"So..." she said to the small lady, "...not by a longshot, huh?"  
  
Chibi-Usa shook her head to say no.  
  
"Well, knock on wood!" said Usagi in resignation.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	26. Mind's Eye View

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
"Oh shit!" said the doctor Ogawa as she realized just what had   
happened.  
  
Only a few seconds ago, her world made sense. The asylum she ran was   
a smooth operation that held the more dangerously disturbed   
individuals of Japan. They were held securely in her mental ward,   
where they hurt nobody, not even themselves. Occasionaly, she even   
managed to heal one just enough that a regular institution might be   
able to take him in and allow him to live a better life without   
padded walls, tranquilizers and a straightjacket...   
  
Today, however, was going to be hell. Her phone had just rang to   
inform her that one of the major nutcases in her care had escaped   
during the night. And to make matters worse, a visitor was there to   
see him just this morning, of all days!  
  
"I`m... I`m sorry sir. He somehow got out of his cell during the   
night, we have no idea how far he could have gone since then."  
  
"I see... I better warn you, though, his mind is rather... deranged,   
as you must know by now." said the visitor, removing his black   
shades slowly for dramatic effect. He was very good at that.  
  
"Coran Demsy will be captured and brought back, I assure you mister   
Dreadborne." said doctor Ogawa.  
  
"Please..." said Ronmar as he smiled, "...call me Mitchell."  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 26  
  
MIND`S EYE VIEW  
  
  
Her spine was healing well after the emergency reconstructive   
surgery she`d received shortly after her new friend Xavier had   
brought her to the hospital. The nerves had been damaged beyond   
medicine`s capacity to cure, but she was recovering nonetheless.   
Makoto could now sit up in her bed. She was starting to accept her   
condition, not that she had to like it... but one must accept what   
they can`t change.  
  
"Do you feel anything if I do this?" asked Xavier as he proded his   
finger along her right leg.  
  
"No." she replied.  
  
"And this?" he added, poking her foot.  
  
"Nothing. I can`t even feel the bedsheets touching my skin."  
  
"I`m sorry I can`t do anything for you, Makoto." said Xavier, his   
green eyes reflecting sorrow.  
  
"You already are." she said, taking his hands in hers and kissed his   
fingers.  
  
Xavier smiled. He gently hugged Makoto and kissed her softly. She   
rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.  
  
"Tell me something, Xavier... why did you stick by me after you   
brought me here? I mean, I was no more than a broken doll when I   
first woke up, and you tolerated the crap I put you and everybody   
else through..." said Makoto, until Xavier put his finger to her   
lips, beckoning her silence.  
  
"Hush, now." he said. "I did what I did because... well... I made   
some bad choices in my life. When I saw you, I knew that helping you   
was that chance of redemption I was losing hope of ever finding. I   
just never expected to... to..."  
  
"To fall in love?" completed Makoto.  
  
"Yeah. I`ve always been alone, even when I was surrounded by others   
like myself. Loneliness wasn`t so bad, but after a few years of   
isolating myself, I`m ready to give myself again." he said, looking   
in her eyes directly.  
  
Makoto felt herself melt, the strenght and passion in those green   
eyes was simply so much! A single tear of joy rolled on her face,   
and she kissed him again. The only dark spot on this moment was the   
thought of her friend Minako, and wether she had really done that   
horrible thing the night before...  
  
* * *  
  
With the sun rising in the morning sun, the fugitive Coran Demsy   
did his best to stay hidden from the police and anyone else who   
would try to capture and return him to that dreadful cell in the   
mental hospital. In his earlier days when he still called himself   
Psyche, he had it all: money, power, respect and psy powers that   
made him a feared and respected man. Now all he had was a rat   
infested abandonned appartment building where he brooded and   
plotted his revenge.  
  
"Well, that`s another fine mess you got into." said the voice that   
haunted him every day.  
  
He turned around and saw Sailor Jendra. Sitting on the dusty kitchen   
counter of the two room appartment he had improvised as his hideout,   
she mocked him once again.  
  
"Shut up." he told her.  
  
"You had it all, you know that? But you wanted too much, mingled   
with dangerous fanatics and you lost everything." she said.  
  
"I could have won the big jackpot. The power Vortika could have   
brought me.."  
  
"Is a joke!" interrupted Jendra.  
  
"Do you really think Vortika respected you AT ALL???" said Sailor   
Mercury, who just happened to be standing behind him.  
  
"Yes, she did, that`s why she admitted me and tempered Ronmar in my   
presence!" he argued.  
  
"Like hell she did!" said Jendra.  
  
"The only reason she dealt you in on the hand is because you brought   
plenty of poker chips to the playing table!" said Mercury in a   
mocking tone.  
  
"Shut up, both of you!" he commanded.  
  
"Nobody ever respected you, Psyche. After your first blunder,   
Majestra Vortika publicly disavowed you and left you out to dry."   
said Mercury.  
  
"Silence!" he ordered.  
  
"You`re a loser AND a known dangerous molester... no one will EVER   
trust you again!" added Jendra  
  
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!" screamed Demsy, pulling out a gun   
stolen from a security guard at the asylum. He shot blindly at both   
scouts, emptying the ammunition in a few seconds.  
  
When he reopened his eyes, there was no one there. Only a few bullet   
holes on the filthy walls.  
  
"Shut up..." he whispered, falling to his knees, head in his hands.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako was about to enter Makoto`s room, but she hesitated. What was   
she going to say? What was MAKOTO going to say? After what happened   
the night before, the blonde senshi wasn`t sure how her friend would   
react... surely she had heard of the blaze and the corpse of the guy   
who almost killed her.  
  
"The truth, that`s what. No matter how much it hurts." she told   
herself, then entered.  
  
Minako knocked on the door of her friend`s hospital room, then went   
in. She was greeted by a stare of uncertainty, of doubt mixed with   
reproach.  
  
Silently, Minako opened her purse and handed over to Makoto her   
stolen transformation pen. She took it without a word and held it   
close to her heart. It took over two minutes of uneasy silence   
before Minako broke the ice. "I assume you want to know the whole   
story." she asked.  
  
"Yes, please. I want to hear it from your lips." replied Makoto.  
  
"Okay... it all started after I heard about what happened to you, I   
decided to go after your pen... and punish the guy who shot you.   
With my skills acquired as Sailor V, it was easy enough to go back   
all the way up to the source. A small time crook called little Jimmy   
fessed up to whom was responsible for your assault, and with the name   
of the gang he belonged to, all I had to do was catch one of them and   
squeeze the information out of him. The first one of them I found   
was... shall we say, allergic to pain." she explained.  
  
"So what did you do from that point on?"  
  
"I was primed and out for vengence, plain and simple. If he`d been in   
front of me, there`s no telling what I would have done. But once   
again, fate had a different idea in mind..." explained Minako as she   
went into vivid details of her encounter at the docks...  
  
* * *  
  
"Thirty-one... thirty-two... thirty-three..." counted out loud Sailor   
Venus as she looked for the place where she`d find the Panther`s   
hideout. It had been so easy to go up to this point, threatening and   
beating her way through a long line of bums and small time crooks   
whom she brutally crushed for the information she needed. It was a   
welcome change from the desperate fights against the forces of pure   
evil she`d grown used to battle, like the youmas of Beryl, the   
cardians of Allan and Ann, the droids of the dark moon... the greedy   
and pathetic motives of the petty thieves she was facing were a   
refreshing relief to her.  
  
So far she`d punched, kicked, threw across rooms, crushed several   
noses and reduced fingers to bone under her steel lined boots. And   
she enjoyed every one of these violent moments.  
  
Now, however, she was just about to cross the line. Sailor Venus was   
getting ready to take her first human life, in cold blood no less.   
Had any one of her friends tagged along, she would have objected   
vehemently to Venus`s plan... but the recently reawakened senshi was   
working solo, like she always had done so as the cool headed   
Sailor V.  
  
"...thirty-four." she finished counting, having reached the   
destination squealed by a mugger who would probably never fully   
recover the use of his knees.  
  
And now, to enter... how would she proceed? Hiding in the shadows,   
Minako evaluated her options: the back door, the windows of the   
second floor with the fire stairs, the air ducts on the roof...  
  
"The hell with discretion!" she then concluded. "SOUL CRESCENT   
SMASHER!!!" she screamed.  
  
Pointing her index towards the front loading doors of the rusting   
warehouse, a golden energy sphere formed on its tip and shot forward   
in a blur of light, detonating loudly upon contact with the steel   
doors and shredding them to tiny bits. Soul power had done wonders   
for Sailor Venus, notably by increasing the strenght of her old   
attacks tenfold.  
  
"Time to bag myself a murderer." she muttered with an evil snicker.  
  
Walking with a very deliberate hip swing, she entered slowly through   
the settling dust cloud. There was a lot of debris spread over from   
her blasting entrance, but no one in view.  
  
"Damn, I should have taken an appointment." she said.  
  
Just before she could do anything else, she heard a terrible scream,   
followed by a gut-wrenching call for help. Her hero reflexes kicking   
in, she sprang forward and ran to the back room... the scene waiting   
for her there was not what she expected, to say the least!!!  
  
Her target was right there, but the short cowardly man was being   
assaulted by somebody else already!!! And not just anyone, it was   
a tall man whose strong body was wrapped in a long dark blue cloak,   
his head bathed in blazing red flames that shrouded his facial   
features.  
  
"What the hell are you??" she asked, making herself known to both   
men.  
  
"Help... me..." mumbled the short man, unaware that Venus wanted to   
hurt him as much as his assailant.  
  
"Shut up." ordered Ghangoroth as he crushed his throat in a grip of   
steel. He fell down, limp and lifeless. He was dead.  
  
"What did you do that for?" asked Venus.  
  
"Do you think you`re the only one he did something against? That a   
crook like him would be content to hurt a single person in his whole   
lifetime?" he asked, not a trace of emotion betrayed by his monochord   
voice. "Scum like him deserves to die, period. And besides, he was  
trying to muscle in on MY territory. A place like this can only have   
one successful battle arena, you know."  
  
"I came here looking for a fight, and you`ll do just fine..." said   
Venus, anger burning in her eyes, as she took her battle stance.  
  
"I could use the practice myself, come to think of it. I don`t get   
that much opposition of your caliber, fighting you off will be the   
highlight of my year!" said Ghangoroth, pulling his cloak in his   
back to free his arm movements. Minako noticed a small grin on his   
face, the first sign of emotion anyone had seen on the psionic   
warrior in ages.  
  
* * *  
  
"So? Are you going to tell me about that fight or what?" urged   
Makoto, hanging on to Minako`s every word.  
  
"I already told you enough. He was good, very good. My love-me-chain   
whip was barely enough to keep him at bay. He had some powerful   
telekinetic blasts and pyrokinetic firewaves to boot... and that`s   
how that fire started, by the way; his fire lit up a leaky gas maine   
that my whip cracked open by accident. The rest is kind of a blur,   
since that huge explosion broke our concentration. Well, I have to   
go, my classes start soon." said Minako.  
  
"Minako?" said the paralyzed girl as her friend turned around and   
headed for the door. "If you`d reached the guy before the flame head   
warrior... would you really have.. you know... killed him?"  
  
The blonde girl froze at the mere mention of this possible outcome.   
She hesitated to answer, and dodged the question entirely instead,   
replying out of context without even turning to face Makoto. "Rest   
for now, my friend, rehabilitation is very exhausting as I hear."  
  
She left.  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting in math class next to Robin, Usagi was really starting to be   
worried. Her friend`s account of the events at the hot springs was a   
very bad sign of more trouble ahead.  
  
"Aebonite? What`s that?" whispered Usagi, trying not to get caught   
chatting in class.  
  
"I`m not sure. Maybe Luna can help us on that one." suggested Robin.  
  
"Better ask Artemis. He`s the specialist in crystals, Luna once told   
me. If anyone knows about this weird heat sucking stone, it`s him."  
  
"Where is Artemis anyway? I haven`t seen him in a while." commented   
Robin.  
  
"I don`t know, actually. He`s been real busy lately, Minako can   
barely get a hold of him. He`s going to be there at our meeting   
tonight, so we can ask him then." concluded Usagi.  
  
"How many of us will make it anyway? It`s been so confusing   
lately..." wondered Robin.  
  
"I know my brother and Laurella at least, they should meet us on the   
way to the temple."  
  
* * *  
  
Gingitsune entered a small artist studio located in an almost   
deserted part of the Tokyo suburbs. Although the small mansion gave a   
run-down impression from the outside, the inside decorating was   
nothing short of breathtaking. The owner of the place had a wonderful   
artistic sense, the archways, floors and columns that greeted the   
eyes were testimony to that.  
  
Everywhere he looked, statues, statues so realistic in their details   
that they all seemed to be sleeping, waiting for their creator to   
snap her fingers. Marble, granite, quartz, volcanic stone, so many   
types of rock represented and each one of them fitting perfectly the   
figure they had been carved into.  
  
"She`s been busy all these years." he thought.  
  
A loud shriek came from an intercom box located on a nearby wall.  
  
"Who`s there?" asked a feminine voice in a very displeased tone. "I   
have no appointments at this time."  
  
"Have you ever needed any appointments in the service to your queen,   
Thorelia?" asked the silver maned man, using a name she hadn`t been   
referred as in many years. The long silence that followed gave him   
the indication that she hadn`t forgotten him.  
  
"You can come in, silverfox, but I`m not returning to the ruins of   
the past." she finally said.  
  
"We`ll see about that." he thought as he walked through the entrance   
leading from the lobby to the main hall.   
  
* * *  
  
Rei changed from her dark red blouse and crimson skirt to her temple   
garbs. She loved wearing nice stylish clothes, but she always   
returned to the worn rough cloth of the Shinto. The apprentice   
priestess knew she had more than enough time before anyone got there   
for the meeting, so she knelt in front of the sacred fire for some   
advice.  
  
She began to concentrate on the dancing flames, letting them consume   
her mind and draw her into a deep trance. Within minutes, there was   
no more thoughts in her head besides the image of the fire, the singe   
of the flame and the odor of the smoke. She WAS the flame, a fragment   
of the god she worshipped.  
  
The abstract motives of the glowing fire suddenly started to swirl   
around, taking form and giving a glimpse of things to come to the   
sweating Rei. What she saw in there was nothing to reassure her. She   
saw the image of a man with glithering hair, surrounded in darkness   
and standing up in the middle of a pool of blood. Two long tears   
were rolling on his cheeks and they fell down, mingling in the fresh   
blood. Then a burst of hellfire swallowed the whole image in a   
fraction of a second.   
  
"What did THAT mean?" wondered the young priestess.  
  
Amidst the fire came something quite unexpected: another image began   
to form, despite the fact that Rei had broken her state of trance.   
It was the smiling face of Chibi-Usa, but she was a mature young   
woman now. Her hair was still in her odango style, much longer than   
it was right now, matching the lenght that Usagi`s own hair had   
reached before she had it cut off. Her long hair was no longer pink,   
however, having darkened to a burning shade of red.  
  
Her face had the strenght and passion of Black Lady, when she`d been   
turned into an evil adult by the Wiseman, but her eyes sparkled with   
genuine kindness. This mature image of Usagi`s daughter even   
whispered a few words.  
  
"I love you, Rei..."  
  
Then it all clicked.  
  
"Of course, it`s been staring me in the face all the time!" thought   
Rei. Chibi-Usa`s uncanny ability to swim, her sudden talent for   
fire-based attacks, the strange link she felt between the small lady   
and herself when they hugged at the hospital...  
  
"Oh dear lord, I can`t believe this..."   
  
* * *  
  
"You haven`t lost your touch, Thorelia." commented Gingitsune as he   
admired the creation studio of his former ally from the dark kingdom.  
  
Dozens of bizarre looking statues of barely humanoid beings were   
frozen in various expressions of anger, pain and fear. These were   
the artworks that japanese high society was fighting for in a full   
fledged bidding war. These were the very horrors that had been once   
used to create the vile creatures known and feared as the dreaded   
YOUMA.  
  
"I`ve kept myself busy, as have all survivors of Beryl`s service."   
said Thorelia, keeping herself out of sight in the darkest corner of   
the badly light studio.  
  
"We need your magic touch again." said Gingitsune, getting straight   
to the point.  
  
"I`m not interested. I know you`ve been gathering our former   
collegues, but I`m not coming back. You may have given the oath to   
the bloodline, but I am a free agent in this whole mess." calmly  
explained the shadowy figure.  
  
"No need to remind me, friend artist. I`m not here to play on your   
loyalty, but rather to offer a deal."  
  
"What kind of deal?" asked the woman.  
  
"Tell me, Thorelia, those masks you shape for yourself, how long do   
they last now?" asked the silverfox, sensing that the sculptress`   
"face" was beginning to unravel.  
  
An odd bubbling erupted from her right cheek, subsiding quickly. A   
small trickle of flesh colored liquid oozed off her face, dropping   
down to the floor in a hissing sound of corroded artificial skin.  
  
"How long, Thorelia? Weeks? Days? Do they even last more than a few   
hours, now, is that why you shun the grand openings of your   
exhibitions and flee the interviews???" he pressed on.  
  
"I don`t want to return, I don`t care what my face looks like..." she   
tried to argue, but a more substancial section of her face melted   
into a mushy paste, dripping down into a large puddle of dissolving   
muck. She sobbed silently.  
  
"Your phony faces look nice, but wouldn`t you just LOVE to have a   
REAL face made out of real human skin? One that your body wouldn`t   
reject?" asked Gingitsune.  
  
"DAMN YOU! It was Beryl who made me like this!!!" she screamed   
through her tears.  
  
"And it`s her heir alone who has the knowledge to graft you a new   
face, darling."  
  
"All right, you win... I`ll mold you some new youma." conceded the   
artist.  
  
"Thank you. My Lord and Lady will be pleased." replied the man,   
grining wickedly.  
  
* * *  
  
"Is this it? Where`s everyone???" wondered Laurella as she looked   
into the small reception room at Rei`s place, totally deserted save   
for the young priestess herself.   
  
"Setsuna had to work late, Haruka and Michiru called in to say they`d   
be late because of heavy traffic, Ami and Minako are spending some   
time together since they`ve been seperated so long... well, you get   
the idea. Chibi-Usa will be here with the cats, but that`s it."   
explained Rei.  
  
"More snacks for us then!" said Usagi with a big smile.  
  
"That`s the sister I recognize!" observed Shingo.  
  
Ever since her dramatic confrontation with Gallagher and the Prime,   
Usagi hadn`t been the same, being a lot sader and gloomier. In recent   
days, however, she had been returning to her old scatterbrain self   
once again. As much as the others got aggravated by her childish   
behavior at times, they`d rather have her be happy and carefree than   
sullen as she`d been.  
  
"So it`ll be five of us, then." said Laurella, sitting by Usagi who   
already dug in the cookie plate waiting on the table by a hot tea   
pot.   
  
"SIX!!!" corrected Chibi-Usa who ran in from the frosty winds outside   
into the warm room and putting down her travel bag which she opened.  
  
"Make that eight!" said Luna as she hopped out after Artemis.  
  
"Artemis, Usagi tells me you know a lot about crystals." said Robin   
as she poured some tea for her friends.  
  
"Right on, what do you need to know?" replied the white cat.  
  
"What do you know of something called AEBONITE?" asked Robin.  
  
Artemis had a very noticeable shudder at the mere mention of the   
stone.  
  
"Aebonite, are you SURE???"  
  
"Certain. That`s what the silver haired guy said."   
  
"Silver haired?" thought Rei out loud. "This sounds like my vision!"  
  
"There exists a very rare mineral called Aebonite." explained   
Artemis. "It has the natural property of absorbing surrounding   
energy and reemit it in a random pattern of varied energy forms. It   
can be purified to absorb one specific type of energy and precisely   
redirect it to a single focal point, turning it into a powerful   
energy gathering device."  
  
"Something tells me there`s more bad news attached to that."   
suggested Shingo, who received Laurella`s elbow in the ribs as a   
more or less don`t-be-snippy command.  
  
"He`s right." continued the cat. "It takes considerable knowledge of   
crystals and huge energy ressources to purify aebonite into the   
heat-sucking crystal you saw yesterday. In addition to that...   
aebonite is indigenous to one place only: THE DARK KINGDOM   
ITSELF!!!"  
  
"So those triplets we fought would be... what`s the name you told me   
again, Usagi? Droids?"  
  
"Youma, Robin. The dark kingdom uses youma." replied the blonde   
girl.  
  
"Right, youma. So where do the cardians fit in???"  
  
Everyone let out a loud sigh. Robin had a lot to learn about the past   
encounters of the sailor scouts.  
  
"So the legacy of Beryl lives on." commented Luna.  
  
"I always wanted to roast some youma myself! I just love it when dad   
tells me all about how he and mom defeated all those weird monsters   
with stupid names!" said Chibi-Usa.  
  
Rei found herself looking at Chibi-Usa quite insistently. She knew   
something about the small lady that she herself ignored. She wanted   
to tell her very much, but just didn`t know how.  
  
"What is it, Rei?" she asked, noticing her stare.  
  
"Nothing, honey, enjoy your cookies." said Rei with a warm smile.  
  
"I always loved you a lot, you know that?" whispered the small lady   
to Rei.  
  
"Yeah, me too!" she whispered back.  
  
* * *  
  
"That was very brutal, what you did to these guys." said Ami to   
Minako. She hadn`t said much throughout their dinner, but this was   
the only thing on her mind. "Why did you do it?"  
  
"Because they hurt Makoto, that`s why. Evil needs no reason other   
than to exist, so why should justice have any more reason than that?   
We must make a stand against the onslaught of darkness, period."   
said Minako.  
  
Ami dragged her fork through her barely touched plate. Who was this   
girl in front of her? What had happened to the sweet woman she`d   
fallen in love with?  
  
"Minako, we scouts and senshi stand for justice, that much is true,   
but can we really afford to lose ourselves in bloody retribution?   
Isn`t that how Beryl corrupted the earth in the first place,   
manipulated humanity into aiding her attack upon the silver   
millenium???"  
  
"Perhaps. Our maybe we just have been hiding behind our sweet   
teenage image to ignore the fact that we`ve been chosen by fate to   
hold back the raging rivers of chaos. Regardless of the true reason   
behind our rebirth in this world, it`s now our sacred role to impose   
order into the crumbling structure of this society!" said Minako, her   
voice cold like Ami had never heard it.  
  
"I can`t believe what you`re saying! Ever since you woke up with soul   
power, you`ve been acting strange, sounding more and more like the   
sword of vengence..."  
  
"What are you trying to say?" accused Minako.  
  
"I don`t think we should see each other quite so often from now on.   
A little distance would do us both a lot of good." said Ami, looking   
down in her plate, unable to gaze into her girlfriend`s eyes.  
  
"Are you breaking up with me???" asked Minako in disbelief.  
  
"Well... yeah, I am. I don`t like what you`ve become, the girl I love   
is gone." said Ami, a tear going down her cheek.  
  
"Fine, be that way! See if I need you, Ami! I don`t need anyone of   
you, Sailor Venus... no, no, SAILOR V never needed ANYONE!!!"   
screamed Minako before storming out of Ami`s house.  
  
"Wait, you don`t have to do this!" pleaded Ami as she ran after her   
lost friend. Too late. She had already transformed into Sailor V and   
sped away into the distance of the setting sun.  
  
"You don`t have to be alone..." she whispered, crying in her hands.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	27. Drawn Battlelines

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
Chibi-Usa was curled in a tight little ball, sleeping soundly in her   
bed. A lot of things had happened to the little rabbit over these   
past few months, including going through a demon invasion, seeing   
her mother suffer a complete nervous breakdown and fight many   
monsters the likes of which she would`t dare imagine in her   
nightmares.  
  
But for now, she felt safe. Her mom Usagi had gained soul power as   
had many of her friends. It seemed that a new enemy was on the rise   
once again, but she felt safe somehow. Sailor Moon was there to   
protect her, and so were Prince Endymion, Emerald Knight and the   
rest of the scouts and senshi.  
  
Even so, she felt more secure than usual. Like someone was watching   
over her, and she liked this warm feeling.  
  
In the corridor, behind the bedroom door, Rei was talking with Usagi.   
They were chatting about what should be done about this aebonite   
mineral situation. Since Usagi`s parents knew all about her secret   
identity as Sailor Moon, they could talk freely now.   
  
The meeting had been a long one that night, and Rei had volunteered   
to help Usagi bring home the exhausted small lady, and Rei asked if   
she could see the little one while she slept one more time before   
going home.  
  
"Sure." said Usagi who headed down to the kitchen for a late night   
snack.  
  
Rei opened the door silently and peered inside. The bright moonlight   
flooded the room, bathing Chibi-Usa in silver light. She smiled and   
came closer, sitting on the bed and admiring the sleeping girl in all   
her beauty.  
  
"So it did take a long time to heal, didn`t it? A millenium has   
passed, and you returned to me your fragile soul mended and your   
scars vanished." whispered Rei.  
  
"She is a wonderful child, isn`t she?" whispered a deep voice in the   
darkest corner of the bedroom.  
  
"I had a feeling I`d find you here, Ronmar." said Rei, turning her   
head around. She saw a black silhouette standing there, keeping   
watch.  
  
"So you finally understand, then." replied Ronmar.  
  
"I do have a question, though."  
  
"Of course, Rei, ask me anything."  
  
"While we faced the Triad... why did you put me under that dreadful   
curse???" asked Rei.  
  
"Because I was trying to keep you away from the end we had prepared   
for you and your friends. It was a bad strategic decision to choose   
you for the morphing curse, but I wanted you to escape with your   
life. I made this error willingly simply because I wanted you, Rei,   
not to be hurt."  
  
"I thought it might be that when I dreamed of my past life on mars...  
and remembered you were my father back then." said Rei.  
  
Ronmar moved out of the shadows, getting closer to the bed. He smiled   
and watched at Chibi-Usa.  
  
"After all this time, my darling Celeste has reincarnated. I sware I   
will protect both her and you, Rei, her soul sister."  
  
Rei stood up and hugged Ronmar. He had been a wonderful father in her   
previous life and her dad was always so busy with his political   
career... the dread knight was the closest thing shehad to a father   
figure in her life, not counting her old grandfather of course.  
  
"Ronmar..." she whispered.  
  
"Yes, Rei?"  
  
"How would you feel to know you might become a grandfather sometime   
next year?"  
  
"I`d be thrilled... if you chose to keep that budding life in your   
womb. Have you made your decision?" asked Ronmar.  
  
"How did you know???" asked Rei.  
  
"I can feel all life around me. It`s a dread knight thing."  
  
Rei giggled as she looked at the little pink haired girl and smiled.   
Being in her past life`s father`s arm so close to her soul sister...   
she was happy.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 27  
  
DRAWN BATTLELINES  
  
  
Amidst the looming shadows of the shrine to Metalia that was the   
ancient throne of Queen Beryl, Gingitsune stared up at the monstrous   
physical representation of the pure evil force whose very existence   
had forever soiled reality.  
  
"Is this what my life has come to?" he wondered. "Am I just going to   
repeat the mistakes of the past?"  
  
"Not unless you learned from them." answered a cold, emotionless   
voice.  
  
"Ghangoroth? Was I thinking out loud again?"  
  
"No. I just read this from your surface thoughts." replied the fire   
headed psionic, illuminating his suroundings with his psychic fire   
light. "Having regrets?"  
  
"Of course, everyone does." said Gingitsune. "What`s yours?"  
  
"Mine?"  
  
Ghangoroth was surprised, and that`s difficult to do to a man with   
mental powers like his.  
  
"Well... I did love someone once... she died while I was away on a   
mission for her majesty Beryl. I always did regret not being there   
with her in the terminal phase of her disease." said the psionic,   
hinting emotion to his ally. "What about you?"  
  
Gingitsune lowered his eyes to the ground.  
  
"It was at the battle of the moon kingdom. I must have butchered   
twenty moon guards in less than half an hour that day, and I felt   
nothing. Not joy, not anger, nothing. I was a perfect soldier   
serving loyally under general Kunzite, and I was content with that.   
But when the princess died, something felt wrong. When I saw Queen   
Serenity`s expression, I knew I had done something truly wrong. It   
was a terrible mix of anger, pain and sorrow, a face I`ll never   
forget as long as I live. The pain only a mother can feel..."  
  
"Will this stop you from completing your mission?" asked Ghangoroth.  
  
"It never stopped me before. I may not sleep at night, but I get the   
job done." said the silverfox.  
  
"And a good thing too." said a smooth masculine voice entering the   
throne room, sitting in the shadows of the enormous Metalia statue.   
"I need you to go check up on a few prospects for the next aebonite   
crystals... we only have a few more to place until we know if the   
Japan experiment is a viable one. If it works as planned, we will   
begin... expanding our horizons."  
  
"Couldn`t we just send a few youmas instead???" argued Gingitsune.  
  
"They need supervision, as you know. Ghangoroth and Dokuryo will get   
another assignment as well, so feel not unfairly treated. After all,   
you were nothing but a lieutenant until last year... a lieutenant   
alone in smoking ruins. Now go, take a few youmas from Thorelia`s   
latest batch and get the results I expect." said the sinister figure.  
  
"Your wish is my command, Lord Aebonite." he said, bowing to his   
master. He left to the art studio that had been created for their   
ally inside the newly rebuilt earth fortress of the dark kingdom,   
now renamed the dark empire. He teleported himself away there, not   
feeling like walking all the way to the youma creation room.  
  
Aebonite turned to Ghangoroth and asked him what he thought of   
Gingitsune`s loyalty, not bothering to actually pronounce his   
question, knowing well that the psionic was ever listening to the   
floating surface thoughts around him.  
  
"Quite true, Lord Aebonite, I hear all thought." he said.   
"Gingitsune is a man of principle, one who believes in his actions   
and their consequences... but he sees that your service is an   
opportunity to recreate something greater than himself, an empire   
he can proudly serve. You can implicitly trust him."  
  
And may I ask of your loyalty, Ghangoroth, thought Aebonite. Where   
were you last week when the silverfox and the Delta triad youma were   
fighting our ancient enemies.  
  
"I was handling some personal business. I had a few loose ends to   
tie in my old neighbourhood." he replied.  
  
"Be careful of how you handle the female fighters, you might find   
that you painted yourself in a corner someday." suggested Aebonite.  
  
"I`ll keep that in mind."  
  
* * *  
  
Waiting to meet his buyer, a relatively unsuspicious drug dealer   
fiddled nervously with the handle of his black leather briefcase.   
Large sweatdrops trickled along his forehead, regardless of the   
sub-zero temperature outside.  
  
"Stop being so nervous, man, you`re starting to make me paranoid!"   
said his associate.  
  
"I have very good reasons to be afraid." said the nervewracked man.  
  
"What do you mean... oh geeze, don`t tell me you believe that Sailor   
V crap???"  
  
"She is out there, Lyle. Waiting. Watching. Hunting down those like   
us."  
  
"She`s just a fake story created to sell more newspaper, like Sailor   
Moon and that demon chick from last summer!!!"  
  
"And what do you suppose happened to Goro? Did both his arms broke   
themselves up???"  
  
"Oh, just shut up."  
  
Just as the short nervous man completed his phrase, the door to the   
dirty appartment he rented for all his business transactions was   
blown apart, his prospective client flung through in an uncontrolled   
belly landing approach.  
  
"Oh hell!" screamed the disbelieving drug trafficker as he saw the   
silhouette of Sailor V standing in the door.  
  
"There`s no room for scum in my city. I`ll take you all out like   
the others before you." she coldly said, pointing the both of them.  
  
With the well trained reflexes of hardened criminals, they instantly   
reached for their automatic guns and opened fire, pelting the   
entryway with a dozen rounds in less than two seconds. They were too   
slow, missing the quick as lightning shadow of the avenging senshi.   
With two perfectly aimed kicks, the two criminals went down. With   
two more kicks, she broke an arm and a shoulder blade. Both men   
were now screaming in pain from their respective fractures.  
  
"SOUL CRESCENT SMASHER!"  
  
A point of light formed onto her index, turning into a blazing beam   
of energy that destroyed the drug filled suitcase in a large   
explosion of golden fire.  
  
Sailor V struck again.  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting at her dining room table which was covered with books, Ami   
was totally oblivious to the outside world. She was immersing   
herself in study, but that was not unusual, as she`d done that her   
entire life, her ultimate goal of being a great doctor pushing her   
ever forward in her path of learning.  
  
She had been doing it more than usual, however. A lot more. Between   
her classes and her personal study, she had been doing little else.   
One might say she was shuting out the rest of the world on purpose,   
retreating inside a turtlelike shell.  
  
"Ami darling, you have a visitor, it`s your friend Usagi!" said her   
mother.  
  
Ami didn`t even lift her eyes as she answered. "Just send her in."  
  
Usagi approached the dinner table and felt an invisible barrier   
surrounding her friend, a "leave me alone" forcefield, sending out   
waves of subconscious hostility.  
  
"Ami, why aren`t you showing up at my house for our meetings? You   
know mom allows us to use the living room now that she knows... we   
miss you." said Usagi.  
  
"I`ve been busy." replied Ami, still consummed by her algebra book.  
  
"Too busy to even care that Minako is going around smashing legs and   
breaking arms?!?"  
  
At the mention of her ex-girlfriend, Ami tensed up and dropped her   
book, fire burning in her eyes. Usagi struck a sensitive nerve, and   
it showed.  
  
"She and I are through, period. She`s not the sweet caring girl we   
met while we fought Beryl, and her bloody rampage is proof to that.   
Anything she does now is no longer my concern."  
  
"She`s our friend, of course she`s our concern!!!" argued Usagi. "I   
know that you`ve been affected the most despite your nonchalant   
attitude... help us get her home, Ami!!!"  
  
Ami looked down at the table. She said nothing more.  
  
"We can`t do this without you." said Usagi.  
  
"I`ll... see what I can do." replied Ami.   
  
"Thank you." said the blonde girl.  
  
"Usagi, you better get the girls together fast. I think I figured   
something important about this new soul power... something the   
senshi MUST know."  
  
"I`ll do it quickly." said Usagi.  
  
* * *  
  
The dark caves had indeed provided the inspiration needed to   
Thorelia`s work. She had been quite active, many statues of humanoid   
beings with warped features stood there, scattered left and   
right. Gingitsune was impressed with the quality of her work.  
  
"Quite fearsome creatures you created my friend." he said as he   
caressed the hard granite statue representing a female centaur whose   
lower body was that of a tigress. "I love this one, it is so bestial   
yet sophisticated. I want this one for my mission."  
  
"Ganeshya, good choice. I`m proud of her myself." said Thorelia,   
coming out of the shadows. She wore a full face ebony mask to cover   
her lack of features. "I`ve so busy... no time to craft myself a   
facial mask."  
  
"We`ll take care of this soon. I have brought you this data crystal.   
We have gathered this information painstakingly, and you may use it   
to choose yourself a fitting face... maybe one of them has a face   
you`d like?" asked the silver haired man, handing her over a small   
bluish piece of quartz.  
  
"I`ll take a look at it later, thank you. It is a pleasure to work   
with someone who holds to the terms of their agreements." said the   
sculptress. Her tone of voice displayed noticeable satisfaction.  
  
"You were about to animate these, I believe."  
  
"Correct!" said Thorelia. "This will use a certain amount of energy,   
but their performance will more than make up for it as you well   
know."  
  
"Yes, youma creation has been a staple of dark kingdom tactics for a   
long time, their efficiency has been proven time and again."  
  
A huge sphere of crystal set at the zenith of the dome shaped ceiling   
began to glow with a bright blue color, filling itself on the large   
amount of geothermal energy stolen from the whole of Japan by the   
aebonite crystals scattered there by the dark empire. Slowly, long   
streams of glowing light emerged from the sphere, reaching to the   
statues like greedy fingers, wrapping them, caressing them gently,   
breathing life into the soon to be living youma horde.  
  
The stone soon became flesh, cracking the thin layer of peeling rock   
like a snake shedding its old skin. Roars and growls came from the   
newborn monsters as they breathed for the first time.  
  
"I never get tired of seeing this." said Gingitsune.  
  
* * *  
  
Haruka hung up the phone after talking to Usagi. Her friend had told   
her of an urgent meeting for which all soul powered senshi had to   
attend. This meant, in this case, that Michiru and Robin would be   
coming there with her necessarily, had they had received their power   
several days before she had.  
  
"Michiru, Ami has discovered something about our new powers. We have   
to meet her at Usagi`s." said the tomboy to her fiancee. She seemed   
out of it a bit, daydreaming as she watched the stars twinkling in   
the winter sky. "What`s the matter, my love?"  
  
"I was wondering what it would be like to have a child... seeing   
Usagi and Chibi-Usa together, so happy, I`m finding myself a little   
jealous." she said.  
  
"You, jealous? I`m surprised!"  
  
"Yes... it`s true, I envy what they have, this connection, this   
bond." she said. She looked at Haruka, staring straight into her   
eyes. "I want a child too." she whispered.  
  
"You`d be a fantastic mother, I`ve always known it. Because neither   
of us is a man, it`ll be a bit more difficult than for most   
couples... but it WILL happen, trust me." replied Haruka.  
  
Michiru hugged Haruka, resting her head on her chest.  
  
"I love so much!!!" she said.  
  
"The others are waiting for us." said Haruka. "Robin`s in her room,   
let`s go get her and join the others."  
  
* * *  
  
"Over there." said Gingitsune to the cute chinese looking girl who   
was walking alongside him, hanging from his arm like an overly   
expressive lover. He was pointing to an area of Tokyo where many of   
the most luxurious apparment rises had been constructed.  
  
"Wow!" she said in a purring voice. Even through their thick winter   
clothes, Gingitsune could feel her shivering from pleasure at the   
sight of this wonderful neighbourhood. "I`d love to live here!"  
  
"Remember that we`re here to test a theory. You know what to do,   
don`t you?" asked the man.  
  
"Yes, I do." answered the cute Ganeshya, pointing to the small shard   
of aebonite crystal that was incrusted in her earring. "I have to   
plant this inside one of these buildings to test the efficiency of   
aebonite in relation to its size. These buildings have powerful   
central heating systems, and this is where you want it placed."  
  
"Correct, darling. By placing small shards in many inocuous spots,   
we could reap more energy in a discreet fashion. Not to mention save   
on the amount of aebonite we use..." explained Gingitsune.  
  
"You`re so clever, master Gingitsune!"  
  
"Go now, I`ll be waiting for your return in this restaurant." said   
the man, pointing to a chic french place. "I have a reservation for   
two."  
  
Ganeshya smiled and left, though not before giving her master a   
quick peck on the cheek and run away giggling.  
  
"She`s nice. I can`t wait to see how far her devotion goes." he   
thought, smiling widely. Out of his pocket, he produced a small   
crystal disk, with one of the side polished to perfection. "It   
should be fun watching her in action." he thought as he walked in   
the restaurant to sit at his reserved place, ordering a nice bottle   
of wine.  
  
* * *  
  
Entering the appartment building was surprisingly easy to Ganeshya.   
The boiler room of the central heating system was unbelievably warm,   
as it might be expected from the unusually cold weather spell Japan   
had fallen under recently.  
  
Ganeshya removed her earring and threw it right onto the huge boiler   
where it stuck. The small aebonite crystal immediately began its   
work, draining thermal energy and sending it towards the dark empire.  
  
"I hope you`re watching me from a distance, Gingitsune. And hearing   
what I`m whispering..." said the youma.  
  
* * *  
  
"Here`s your wine, sir. Shall I open it for you?" asked the waiter   
in a very noticeable french accent.  
  
"Not yet, my date hasn`t arrived." he said, staring subtly at the   
crystal disk in his hand. Through a telepathic effect, he could hear   
everything that happened around Ganeshya, as well as all she said...   
the dark empire general blushed suddenly, turning as red as the   
satin fabric of the tablecloth.  
  
"Sir, are you all right?!?" asked the waiter, concerned for his   
customer.  
  
"Yes, I am." said Gingitsune, smiling like never before. "I just   
can`t wait for my date to arrive!"  
  
* * *  
  
Getting her things together and throwing a few books in her backpack,   
Ami picked up her blue laptop just as it started to buzz. One of her   
old weather monitoring programs had gone off.  
  
"This is weird." she thought, seeing that the sudden temperature   
change monitor she created to warn of impending monsoons had been   
triggered in winter. She opened it and located the event to be   
located entirely in the basement of her appartment rise!  
  
"I have to check this out... it feels so dead wrong!"  
  
She slung her backpack over her shoulder and ran to the elevator.   
She almost never went down there but this time it was an exceptional   
case.  
  
As the doors of the elevator opened to the boiler room, she was   
shocked to feel the blast of cold air rushing in the elevator cabin.   
What was going on here? Normally this place should be too hot to   
stay more than a few minutes at a time!  
  
"Hello young lady." said a strange chinese lady who walked towards   
her, going to the elevator. "I came here because my appartment was   
starting to get cold and no heat was coming in." she lied.  
  
"Obviously it`s not working!" replied Ami.  
  
"I know... I called the repairman, no need to hang around in the   
cold." said the human looking youma, smiling in a friendly fashion.  
  
"I`ll take a look for myself if you don`t mind."  
  
"Suit yourself honey." said Ganeshya, taking the elevator back up.   
As soon as she was gone, Ami opened her laptop and confirmed her   
suspicions: that woman was a youma, and she`d just left a small   
aebonite fragment onto the heating system. She picked it up and   
enclosed it in a small shielded container of her own design; she`d   
study it later, a more pressing matter requiring her full attention   
right now.  
  
"MERCURY STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
After turning into Sailor Mercury, she ran after that strange woman.  
  
* * *  
  
Walking back to the restaurant, Ganeshya felt something happen. The   
energy stream that was coming from the small aebonite splinter she   
left behind to the larger aebonite stud adorning the leather collar   
around her throat.  
  
"Damn, those girls my master told me about... it`s gotta be them!"   
she thought.  
  
"Stay where you are!!!" said Sailor Mercury as she ran towards her.  
  
"And who might you be, girlie?"  
  
"I am Sailor Mercury!!!" screamed the scout.  
  
"Aren`t you feeling a little cold in this short little skirt?"   
wondered Ganeshya.  
  
"I have the power of water and ice, cold doesn`t affect me."  
  
"You`re out of luck, sister, because me neither!" boasted the youma.   
She extended her nails into long sharp claws, ready to be used as   
lethal weapons.  
  
* * *  
  
Still looking at his tiny crystal, Gingitsune sipped on his glass of   
water.  
  
"Sailor Mercury, huh? This is going to be interesting." he thought.  
  
* * *  
  
Ganeshya slashed wildly left and right with speed and dexterity which   
taxed even the nimble reflexes of the outmatched Mercury. She wanted   
desperatly to call for help, but any release of her concentration   
would mean her enemy would get a chance to give the fatal blow.  
  
Slightly slipping on a treacherously hidden ice patch, the youma lost   
balance for an instant, time enough for Mercury to place in a counter   
attack!  
  
"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!!!" she yelled, unleashing the power of icy   
water upon her opponent.  
  
It struck her dead on, but with little result other than slow her   
down a few seconds.  
  
"I told you it was useless." said Ganeshya, smiling wickedly. In an   
instant, her clothes ripped out as her tigress centaur body revealed   
its true form. The only clothing she had now was a light breastplate   
of black metal and her leather collar. She was a stunning sight, the   
striped deep orange fur now covering her whole body. "Let`s REALLY   
rumble now!" she purred.  
  
Not giving Mercury a chance to recover from her surprise, she jumped   
her immediately, knocking her down with her front legs and pinning   
her down in the snow. She bent over and clasped her strong hands   
around her neck, squeezing as hard as she could.  
  
"Die, little girl!"  
  
Outclassed and alone, Ami feared that this would truly be the end of   
her life.  
  
"NO!" she thought. "Not after all I went through!"  
  
She tried to struggle but it was useless. The centaur youma was much   
too heavy, resting all her weight on Mercury`s chest, both   
restraining her and preventing her from breathing.  
  
After fighting their way through Beryl, the dark moon, the triad,   
Daemonfang and Gallagher... all these monsters that had disrupted   
her life over and over again... she was feeling so angry that her   
life wasn`t under HER control, that these fiends were deciding where   
her existance was headed, how and when it would end...  
  
"Don`t worry, it`s almost over, sugar!" whispered Ganeshya into her   
hear as her face was turning blue.  
  
Sailor Mercury`s carefully stacked barriers of logic around her   
emotions began to break down. Anger flared up, along with fear,   
hatred and disgust at the neverending flow of evil that made her   
life so difficult. No more! She wouldn`t stand for that bullshit   
anymore!!!  
  
"ENOUGH!!!" she yelled as a golden glow blasting out of her body   
threw Ganeshya away a good ten feet. As the glow faded away while   
Mercury got up, it was now apparent that she`d be an equal match   
for the tigress centaur... and so much more.  
  
She now wore a skin tight ice blue senshi fuku, with metal guards   
on her calves and forearms just like all her senshi sisters, as   
well as a transparent visor identical to the one that came with the   
laptop given by Luna when she was revealed as Sailor Mercury all   
those years ago. On her right tight were the japanese characters   
for KOORI NO SENSHI, soldier of ice. In her hands she held Deadshot,   
her sacred bow carved of pure sapphire.  
  
The centaur growled and jumped again, but two quick arrows of ice   
took her down and left her screaming in pain, although they did no   
real damage to the youma. It gave the newly revealed senshi enough   
time to unleash her wrath upon the monster who tried to strangle her.  
  
"You think yourself strong by your evil power, but you are nothing!"   
said Mercury, extending her hands in front of her, a six inch wide   
magnetic shield sphere forming in between her palms.  
  
"I fight for justice, knowledge and science, three forces unstoppable   
when put together!!!" she said, as a strong vacuum emptied the   
magnetic sphere of all air and matter but a single molecule of water.   
  
The air then superheated itself all around them in a wide area as the   
water molecule cooled itself toward the absolute zero temperature,   
the theoretical point where atoms and molecules should reach total   
immobilization, the loss of any vibration or rotation movements.   
  
Science had never been able to create this theoretical state of   
molecular stasis, yet Sailor Mercury had attained this within her   
trembling grasp. The super hot air in the immediate vicinity   
created strong whirlwinds with the surrounding winter air and   
melted the snow at her feet. The scene had a surreal feeling of   
absolute power.  
  
"ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE!!!" she screamed, propelling the magnetic   
shielding sphere containing the zero Kelvin degree towards the   
centaur. Upon contact with the youma, it broke apart and the absolute   
zero water molecule touched her- within a second, she was totally   
frozen into an ice statue whose temperature did not exceed that of   
liquid helium. Then, the surrounding hot air immediately created a   
temperature shock with the frozen monster who detonated into a   
thousand cold shards as a supercold shockwave was created, frosting   
over the entire area under half an inch of solid ice.  
  
* * *  
  
Disappointed in Ganeshya`s failure, Gingitsune pocketed the small   
crystal disk. He poured himself a glass of wine and slammed it down.   
"At least we know the crystal works no matter what its size." he   
commented.  
  
He then left.  
  
* * *  
  
"Wow, that was brutal." commented Ami as she cracked out of her thin   
icy shell. "I hope I won`t be late to the meeting because of this."  
  
She ran off to Usagi`s home, transforming back to her regular clothes   
as soon as she got the chance.  
  
"I can`t believe I used my ultimate attack already... I`ll have to   
warn the others!!!" she thought.  
  
* * *  
  
As Gingitsune reappeared in the throne room of the north pole   
fortress of the dark empire, the master of the silverfox was   
waiting for him.  
  
"You failed and lost a youma." he said coldly.  
  
"Err... yes I have." admitted Gingitsune.  
  
"But regardless of that, you did prove the effectiveness of smaller   
aebonite crystals." added the shadowy figure on the throne.  
  
"That I have!" replied his general, relieved that this success would   
stave off his possible execution.  
  
Out of nowhere, two strong youma warriors grabbed him and laid him   
down on the ground face down, holding out his left arm outstretched.   
The female monsters smashed their knees on his back and elbow,   
ensuring he couldn`t budge an inch.  
  
"What are you doing???" screamed Gingitsune, afraid of what would   
happen next.  
  
"You still lost a precious youma, you know. Thorelia is heartbroken   
because of you. And you left one of our enemies alive, which I cannot   
tolerate. I`d create a precedent if I left you go without a   
punishment." explained his master.  
  
From behind the throne came a third youma who wielded a large black   
axe, very sharp at that.  
  
"Which part, Lord Aebonite?" she asked, grinning insanely.  
  
"His left arm, sweetie. Make it a clean cut." ordered the figure.  
  
Gingitsune screamed, but no one who cared was there to listen. And   
so went dark empire justice.  
  
  
To be continued...   
  
  



	28. Evil In Small Doses

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
Fifteen years ago...  
  
  
The blue and red twin stars set slowly over the horizon of the   
Delriad planet`s capital city, Fiorina. It had been twenty-six hours   
since it had done so the previous day, as the days there were   
slightly longer than what humans have grown accustomed to on earth.   
A whole day had gone by without a single motion taking place, without   
a word uttered, without a breath taken.  
  
This once beautiful city-state of art and culture had been torn down   
into smoking ruins and cold ashes by the merciless armies of the   
dreaded Queen Beryl in her insane lust for more power. Hundreds of   
slaughtered men and women laid dead, many huddled over the lifeless   
corpses of the children they died trying vainly to protect.  
  
Yet another world had fallen to the servant of the almighty Metalia.   
Many more would follow. The forces of darkness were on the rise, and   
few could withstand their power.  
  
Amidst the ruins and the slain bodies, two figures embodying this   
very evil strode slowly, avoiding the strewn corpses and abandonned   
weapons. They walked around searching for something they felt but   
could not define. Try as they might, they couldn`t put their finger   
on it.  
  
"Why are we here?" wondered Zoisite. He felt slightly nauseous at   
the odor of decay that began to rise from the corpses starting to   
rot after a day and a half.  
  
"I`m not sure myself." said Kunzite. "You felt it too, this strange   
aura of power emanating from this dead battlefield."  
  
"Yes, it`s true. I felt it vaguely before the battle, but the large   
amount of people gathered in this city hid it from us." admitted   
Zoisite.  
  
"And now, we can feel it to its fullest... but what is it??? A   
weapon? A spell cast on this place? An artifact left behind??? We   
must know, for the glory of our dark kingdom!" said Kunzite.  
  
"I`m curious to find out... and I can`t wait to leave this wasteland   
too. This blood soaked dirt is going to destroy my boots!" complained   
the effiminate Zoisite.  
  
Kunzite laughed in a barely audible voice.   
  
"Ever concerned about your beauty, are you my love?"  
  
"That`s just who I am." said the general, twirling his long blonde   
ponytail playfully.  
  
Just as he was going to give his lover a witty reply, Kunzite heard   
something he never would have expected there: the faint sobbing of   
a lone survivor. The two generals of the dark kingdom moved towards   
the weakened child who`d been crying over the dead body of his   
mother; she`d obviously died to save his life during the desperate   
struggle of Fiorina.  
  
"I don`t believe this..." said Kunzite.  
  
The child was a little boy, no more than a year old. His ice blue   
eyes were swollen by crying for over a day, and his dark blue hair   
was stained by the blood of those who died around him. His pure white   
clothes were equally stained, and his strenght was runing out.   
Despite the aura of power he radiated, he would die off rapidly in   
this forsaken world.  
  
"This child... is the source of this power? Can you imagine how   
strong he is, that we felt him all the way from our orbiting ship???"   
asked Kunzite.  
  
Zoisite knelt next to him, looking at the desperate child. Seeing   
the feminine looking warrior, the small boy leapt into his arms,   
hugging him tight. He felt secure in his arms.  
  
"Look at him... I think he likes me." said Zoisite.  
  
"Yes, indeed." agreed Kunzite.  
  
"So what do we do?"  
  
"Let`s return to Queen Beryl. She asked us to find the source of   
this power, and we have."  
  
"All right. Come with us, little one... hey, we don`t even know his   
name!" observed Zoisite.  
  
"We`ll just have to give him a new one... how about Azurite?"   
suggested Kunzite.  
  
"No, it`s no good! Hey, I know... AEBONITE!" said Zoisite with   
conviction.  
  
"I know better than to argue with you, darling..." concluded   
Kunzite.  
  
They kissed and returned to their master, bringing back the orphan   
child.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 28  
  
EVIL IN SMALL DOSES  
  
  
"No, please, don`t hurt me Sailor V! I was just hired to protect him   
from his enemies!!!" pleaded a large hulking brute as he wriggled on   
the floor, his broken nose bleeding a lot.  
  
"You were there taking part, you collected blood money for your   
services and you hurt many people doing your corrupt work! No mercy   
for the guilty!" she said, pointing in his direction and walking   
toward him to inflict more bodily harm to him despite his desperate   
plea.  
  
A loud scream echoed in the filthy appartment building corridor,   
covering up the sound of the insane senshi breaking his arms.  
  
Yet another frontline for Sailor V!  
  
Setsuna looked over the front page of the Maiasa Shimbun, wondering   
if she should feel sad or angry at Minako. After finishing her cup   
of tea, she decided that anger was the way to go.  
  
"What`s happened to that girl?!? Ever since she woke up, she`s been   
on that vigilante bloody rampage!" she said.  
  
"Somebody should tell her that when she comes tonight!" said Michiru   
in total agreement.  
  
"No luck tonight I`m afraid. None of us could get a hold of her...   
I`ll bet she`s busy making tomorrow`s headlines by now." said Rei.  
  
"Sadly enough, I`m afraid Rei`s right. She`s totally lost her kind   
heart we all loved so much." added Usagi. "We won`t be seeing her at   
the meetings any time soon."  
  
"Speaking of missing persons, shouldn`t Ami be here by now?" asked   
Robin as she reached forward for one of the mint chocolate cookies   
that Ikuko had brought them. She`d never tasted mint cookies before   
and was very pleased with its fresh taste.  
  
"Yeah, it`s not like her to be late anywhere... especially when she   
sets things up!" said Haruka as she tapped her fingers in growing   
impatience.  
  
A rapping came at the front door. "I`ll get it!" said Kenji who was   
close by. "Hello, Ami, your friends are waiting for you in the   
living room." they heard him say.  
  
Ami took off her boots and coat and ran to the living room, dropping   
her backpack to the floor and sitting in front of the low table and   
opening her laptop there. Immediately numbers and charts began   
flashing across the lit screen as the Sailor Mercury Bubble Blast   
screen saver disappeared.  
  
"The dark empire is on the move again... I just fought a youma near   
my home." she said.  
  
"WHAT???" was the general reaction.  
  
"Don`t worry, I prevailed... after I got my own soul power! I have   
a sapphire bow, now, it`s called Deadshot. A real beauty, it takes   
me back to the days where I practiced tradional archery!" she added.  
  
"COOL! One more gets more power!" said Usagi, excited to hear that.  
  
"It`s not all good news I`m afraid." said Ami. "I`m sorry to say I   
had to use my ultimate attack to neutralize the youma, and besides   
the obvious attention it drew, there is more to them as well..."  
  
The senshi looked at each other, wondering what she might mean.  
  
"Does this have anything to do with my tsunami crusher not working   
against those youmas at the hot springs?" asked Michiru.  
  
"Yeah, my seraphim wings refused to work too." observed Robin.  
  
Ami took off her glasses and looked at them both. "It`s got   
EVERYTHING to do with that." she said dramatically.  
  
The girls all stared at the computer, but no one other than Ami   
herself could make sense of the wild shower of numbers there. Try   
as they might, the numbers meant nada.  
  
"Ami, help us out here!" pleaded Haruka, her head pounding already.  
  
"Fair enough..." agreed the brainy girl. "This is data regarding our   
special powers, more accurately the amount we use when we perform   
them. As you see, some are more power intensive than others, from   
my bubble blast at a mere 2 percent all the way to Haruka`s world   
shacking at a whopping 74 percent!!!"  
  
Usagi could already feel a huge headache soaring her way.  
  
"These percentages you speak of, what do they mean?" wondered   
Michiru.  
  
"Excuse me, I forgot to explain! They represent the fraction of the   
total Technum available at the location where the attack is used.   
The flow of this raw energy tends to vary with several factors such   
as geography, time, other attacks already used..." said Ami.  
  
"Long story short, please." snapped Laurella.  
  
"Err... These numbers vary, but these are pretty much reliable as   
they are based on averages I calculated over time..." started Ami   
who was interrupted by Haruka.  
  
"Hey, why is my world shacking the strongest? No way it beats my   
heaven`s blade erradicator!!!" she protested. "Or Michiru`s tsunami   
crusher!!!"  
  
"I was getting to that..." replied Ami, scolding the impatient   
Haruka with her eyes. "Bear in mind that 100 percent represents the   
TOTAL amount of available Technum at any given moment..."  
  
She punched a button and a list appeared on the screen, overimposing   
the previous one. It contained a total list of all ultimate attacks   
used so far and their respective ratio of energy consumption. The   
girls` eyes popped open as the energy levels were displayed.  
  
ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE: 378%  
DEEP WATER TSUNAMI CRUSHER: 356%  
HEAVEN`S BLADE ERRADICATOR: 406%  
SERAPHIM WINGS OF WRATH: 347%  
  
"This isn`t possible!!!" yelled Rei when she saw those numbers.  
  
"We actually used more than three times the available energy?!?"   
uttered Laurella, baffled.  
  
"It seems that achieving soul power brought us this energy boost...   
because when these attacks were used, the localised Technum drain   
factor registered as zero percent! We didn`t use ANY technum AT ALL   
when doing the ultimate!!! It all came from US directly!" concluded   
Ami, putting her glasses back on.  
  
"So our soul power somehow supercharged us?" asked Usagi.  
  
"Yes, in a nutshell." agreed Ami.  
  
Everyone was shocked that for once, she of all people would get this   
right.  
  
"So why can`t we do this again? Recharge ourselves all over???"   
wondered Michiru.  
  
"Unfortunately, there is a mystical component to these powers I can`t   
quantify... sorry, there`s nothing more I can do here." appologized   
Ami.  
  
"And this mystical component... might it have anything to do with the   
messiah???" wondered Usagi.  
  
"That`s it, she lost it." snapped Rei.  
  
"I`m serious. Gallagher told me a prophecy about her, and the Prime   
was convinced it was Robin, but she has to around SOMEWHERE! Could   
she hold the missing piece of the puzzle there." argued Usagi.  
  
"You told us that poem about her already... isn`t she supposed to   
resurrect to fight this so-called *Lord of Wynter*???" asked Ami.  
  
"Have you looked outside lately?" said the blonde tomboy, pointing   
to the frozen outside.  
  
No one could argue with the cold weather spell. It had seized Japan   
in a tight fist of snow and ice. Not only was the land of the rising   
sun caught in the coldest fall in history, but temperature was   
beginning to wane in other countries too.  
  
"I always figured it would have been Hotaru... but the poor angel   
died..." said Michiru, a tear flowing down her cheek. She quickly   
brushed it away before someone noticed.  
  
"And the Prime isn`t there to resurrect her besides. What if it was   
someone else?" suggested Robin.  
  
"So where would we even look?" asked Setsuna. Even she was at a loss   
over that one.  
  
"Pity Gallagher`s not around, we could have asked him directly... I   
think he knew." said Usagi.  
  
The mere mention of Technuma`s other soul half enraged Robin, yet it   
seemed to make sense. It was unfortunate that was dead as well. This   
left the sailor soldiers with a big gap in their plan of action.  
  
"So... what now?" asked Laurella.  
  
"As I see it, all we can do is try and help Minako." said Ami.  
  
The meeting was ajourned with this suggestion.  
  
* * *  
  
Within the shadowy halls of the dark empire fortress, the greatest   
such hall was surely the throne room with its gigantic statue of   
Metalia which was also the throne sculpted for the use of Queen   
Beryl. Now that she was dead, it was used by her two successors,   
although only one of them used it with regularity.  
  
A tall slim man stepped out of the multiple shadows of the room,   
revealing his slender build and long dark blue hair tied in a   
ponytail that reached all the way down his back. His eyes were ice   
blue and his stare as cold as his heart. He wore a uniform   
practically identical to Kunzite`s, except his had several   
decorations of pure aebonite mineral. For all the cold and hard   
features his face carried, it still looked exactly as it would for   
a sixteen year old.  
  
Holding on nonchalantly to a glass of white wine, he suavely sat on   
his throne and went about the daily business.  
  
"What`s the first order today, milord?" asked a youma who knelt in   
front of him. She was very tall and even more so she was slim; like   
her limbs were slightly too long for her body. Her eyes were also   
unnervingly wide for her narrow face.  
  
"Go get me Gingitsune, his operation must be complete by now." he   
ordered.  
  
"Yes, milord." she replied. She then left.  
  
Now alone in his throneroom, Aebonite summoned a huge crystal slab   
that appeared floating in front of him, to the left of his seat. The   
rough yet flat piece of crystal illuminated itself at Aebonite`s   
will and acted as a viewscreen.  
  
"Hello my lady." he said to the feminine silhouette that appeared   
there.  
  
"Good morning my husband." she replied, her features masked in   
darkness.  
  
"You do love to bask in darkness, do you not?" he asked, smiling.  
  
"Oh yes, it is my friend and sister." she replied, coughing   
afterwards.  
  
"Do not overexert yourself, dear. Let Fenris help you move around."   
he urged her.  
  
"Of course, he watches over me always." she said. A deep growling   
beast roar responded to her last comment, and it made her giggle.   
"Oh yes, you`re a big howling lummox, aren`t you? You just love   
growling for your mistress Crystallite, don`t you?"  
  
"I`ll see you later darling." he said as he switched channel to an   
image of Ghangoroth. He was busy supervising the refining process   
of some aebonite crystals.  
  
"How goes the process old friend?" asked Aebonite.  
  
"Very good, except for one piece which is refusing to purify."   
replied Ghangoroth, the flames around his head shifting as his lips   
and jaw moved. The viewscreen really gave the dark empire ruler a   
good close-up view of this rather odd psychic phenomenon.  
  
"Keep me posted on your progress." said Aebonite. He switched to the   
image of a deep underwater crevice in the ocean. All the way down   
there was two fishlike youma followed by Dokuryo, the toxic dragon   
whose special skills include underwater breathing. He carried a   
heavy piece of aebonite crystal, which he placed in the middle of an   
underwater volcano. The volcano cooled down almost immediately as   
the crystal drained all its geothermal energy and redirected it  
towards the dark empire`s main energy gathering system.  
  
Aebonite smiled and switched the image to another one. It was that   
of the earth, but not the beautiful blue gem that humanity knew it   
as, but as the frozen wasteland Aebonite wanted it to become. He   
looked at the dead planet and laughed wickedly.  
  
"You destroyed us once, Sailor Moon, condemned our world... now the   
rebirth of our world will come through the death of your own!!!" he   
yelled. His mad screams echoed in the empty hall, no one other than   
him being there to hear them.  
  
"DO YOU HEAR ME SAILOR MOON??? YOUR MISERABLE PLANET SHALL   
PERISH!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
Gingitsune could feel the painful throbbing in his shoulder, it was   
spreading to his chest at an increasing rate as the drugs wore off.   
The surgeon, provided courtesy of his dark master, had assured him   
that he wouldn`t feel a thing... but then again, he also said that   
the new replacement for his left arm would match his remaining right   
one. The silverfox tried to move his arm, and to his horror noticed   
that the tearing feeling in his shoulder was increased by ten. He   
wanted to get up from the operating table, but wouldn`t be able, for   
now at least.  
  
"Oh hell, this is even worse than I imagined..." he muttered in gut  
wrenching pain.  
  
I`ll just stay here a while longer, he thought, until he`d feel   
better. Until he could move without praying for death to claim him   
that very instant. He turned his eyes to the left as much as he   
could; he tried not to move his neck. He caught a glint of shining   
metal where is left arm was before Sailor Mercury trashed his youma   
Ganeshya with her infernal freezing attack.  
  
She`d pay for that, not only for putting him in this situation, but   
also for killing the only good-looking youma he had in his service.   
Gingitsune really liked the tigress centaur.  
  
"Gingitsune..." whispered a sweet feminine voice behind him. He froze   
in fear as he recognized it.  
  
"What the hell do you want, Manticide?" he snarled, not caring to   
show his feelings to this frightning creature. Although her true   
nature was conceiled under human appearance, he could just tell what   
would happen if he got TOO close to her. Unlike Ganeshya, this one   
was interested in him for... other reasons.  
  
"Our lord Aebonite has work for us..." she said, getting closer to   
him and caressing his face with one of her very long fingers.  
  
"I`m working with you, Manticide, but that`s all. Don`t get any wild   
ideas about replacing Ganeshya in her *special* duties." snarled the   
general.  
  
The youma felt rage in her heart as her superior scorned her advances.   
She didn`t say anything, but brutally crushed his freshly repaired   
shoulder in her viselike grip. Ripping a sharp yell of pain out of   
him, she felt somewhat avenged. With a smug smile, she turned back   
and returned to the throne room. "Are you coming or what?" she   
snarled, waiting in the doorway for the silverfox to follow.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I`m coming." he said with difficulty, getting up from   
the bloodstained table. He was able to move a bit more, now, and in   
a little while would regain full mobility. He came along with   
Manticide, moving his new metal arm in small circles to get used to   
the new limb.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hi mom, I`m home!" said the exhausted Minako as she entered her   
house. She could barely move her stiff muscles, but she was   
satisfied. The criminal element of Tokyo was terrified of her, as   
well it should be. Sailor V made the law now, and her rules were   
written in blood.  
  
"Hello, Minako darling! Where were you this time?" she asked her.  
  
"To the movies with a friend." she lied. She snickered as she   
remembered how she was really breaking more bones in a maffia   
hideout.  
  
"You haven`t seen Ami in a while, she`s been calling a lot lately...   
and so have your friends Rei, Robin and especially Usagi..."  
  
"Ami and I have broken up... she thinks I`m not the same, and she   
still hangs a lot around them. I just don`t want to bump into her   
just yet." she said quite truthfully.  
  
"Well, we all change over time, don`t we? It`s like that new hair   
color you have been using this week. It`s making you look more   
mature, this darker shade of blonde. I like it!" said her mom.  
  
Minako looked in the lobby mirror and noticed it for the first time.   
Her honey gold hair was now a more subdued blonde with auburn   
highlights. This scared her, as this change had occured all by   
itself... and since her hair was darkening, maybe she didn`t imagine   
her sailor fuku shifting towards a more sinister color scheme as   
well!  
  
"You should rest more, my dear. You look tired!" said Minako`s   
mother, with heartfelt concern.  
  
"Yeah, I should..." she agreed. She went to bed, wondering what was   
happening to her.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hello Makoto, how are you feeling this evening?" asked Dr.Mizuno to   
her patient. Makoto smiled.  
  
"Much better. Getting to use a wheelchair is tough, but I`m getting  
the hang of it." she replied.  
  
This middle aged woman looked so beautiful, thought the teenager.   
She`d always dreaded getting older, but seeing this doctor who   
seemed so youthful despite her long working hours was very   
encouraging.  
  
"Dr.Mizuno, may I ask you a question?" she said.  
  
"Sure, Makoto, ask away."  
  
"How can I make sure to look as good as you when I start aging?" she   
said, a little afraid to anger her doctor with an age related   
question.  
  
The doctor smiled. "Just make sure you take good care of yourself,   
that`s all. There`s no real secret other than that." she explained.   
"Is it for that cute guy who helped you get here that you want to   
stay beautiful?"  
  
Makoto flushed and looked down.  
  
"So it is, it seems... but you don`t have to fear for losing your   
looks, darling, you`re still so very young!" she said, placing her   
hands on her patient`s shoulder. "Get some sleep, now, you want to   
look your best to see your boyfriend tomorrow morning when he comes   
in first thing as he does every day."  
  
"Thanks." whispered Makoto. "Would you lower my bed for the night?"  
  
"Sure thing." said the doctor, turning the handle on the hospital   
bed until it was totally horizontal and Makoto could be in a good   
sleeping position. "Sleep well now." she said and left.  
  
The tall girl proded her legs again before she closed her eyes. Still   
no feeling whatsoever.  
  
"If it hadn`t been for Xavier, I`d be dead now..." she thought. It   
suddenly struck her how her life had almost ended so stupidly with   
a bullet in a dead end alley, after all the odds she`d beaten so far.  
  
A quote from an old batman comic came to her mind...  
  
"I don`t know how it will end for me... maybe the Scarecrow, the   
Joker... or simply a lucky thug with a handgun."  
  
Damn. When did her life turn into a manga?!? With that thought, she   
fell asleep.  
  
* * *  
  
Partly from respect and partly out of fear, Gingitsune knelt to his   
master Aebonite, despite the tearing pain it caused him. Manticide   
imitated him, and both awaited his signal to get back up.  
  
With a smooth motion, Aebonite pushed out of his face the dozen or   
so long hair that weren`t tied in his ponytail and looked at them   
with an emotionless gaze. He enjoyed their humiliating posture for   
a while, then motionned them to their feet.  
  
"I have a mission for you, Gingitsune. Two, actually." explained   
Aebonite.  
  
"I live to serve." he replied.  
  
"First of all, you will contact another one of our allies which   
served under Beryl... she hid herself even better than Thorelia and   
Ghangoroth, but we tracked her down. You will remind her of her oath   
of loyalty to her mistress and have her return to us."  
  
"Consider it done. And the second part?"  
  
"You will take Manticide and a few youma in addition to her... take   
this block of aebonite mineral with you and wait in a Tokyo public   
spot of my choosing." explained the ice cold ruler, materializing a   
medium sized chunk of his crystal namesake. The crystal floated to   
Gingitsune who grabbed it using is right hand, still a bit   
uncomfortable using his left one. The metal replacement was not   
only akward, is was also slightly mismatched to his other one as   
well...  
  
"This one? Isn`t it the one that failed the refining process?" asked   
Manticide.  
  
"Precisely." answered Aebonite. "It absorbs no energy, but instead   
emits a signature radiation many times more powerful than a piece   
half its size."  
  
"Isn`t that going to attract the attention of the human warrior   
girls?" wondered the silverfox.  
  
"Oh yes, that it certainly will." answered Aebonite, grinning   
wickedly.  
  
"Oh, I understand." replied Gingitsune.  
  
"Bring me back as many corpses as you can, that is your mission."  
  
"Yes, my lord." said the general of the dark empire, turning around   
to leave.  
  
"Gingitsune, one last thing before you leave..."  
  
"Yes, milord?"  
  
"Come back victorious... or don`t bother returning at all."  
  
The warning couldn`t be clearer.  
  
* * *  
  
The girls were leaving the concluded meeting, and pondering the   
words of Ami.  
  
"So we only get one shot of those extreme power attacks..." said   
Setsuna as she entered Haruka`s car. "This is very problematic."  
  
"Yeah, I already used mine!" added Haruka as she hit the steering   
wheel in frustration.  
  
"I used mine too, but I consider rescuing Minako from Gallagher a   
good use of it." said Michiru, trying to calm her girlfriend down.  
  
"Even after what she`s been doing lately?" asked Haruka with sarcasm,   
turning the key and starting her engine.  
  
Michiru lowered her eyes, feeling a bit embarassed. "She`ll turn   
around, I know her better than that." she whispered.  
  
"Let`s hope so... before she starts killing people instead of just   
maiming them." mumbled Robin.  
  
While their car left the driveway and brought the four outer   
warriors women, Rei ran outside to catch up with Ami as she walked   
home by herself.  
  
"Wait up! There`s something we have to talk about..." she said,   
panting to catch her breath after catching up to her friend. "Can   
we talk somewhere private? It`s really important!"  
  
"Okay, but we have to stop at the hospital first. I have to meet   
mom there before I go home." said Ami.  
  
"Sure, do what you have to." said Rei. She was glad to drop by the   
hospital, as she wanted to get an appointment with doctor Mizuno   
soon. This would be a great occasion to do it.  
  
While Rei and Ami went their own way, Shingo walked Laurella out   
and offered to walk her home.  
  
"It`s so cold outside, too bad you couldn`t take your motorbike   
here." he commented.  
  
"Yeah, that`s true. I`ll have to leave it in the garage for the   
winter now. But I don`t mind walking if it`s with you..." said   
Laurella, taking her boyfriend`s arm. "So why do you put up with   
me, mighty knight?" she asked in a hushed whisper.  
  
"Because I love you, I always did. Ever since I was a little boy, I   
saw in my dreams a gorgeous warrior dressed in a suit silver and   
white... I knew you were out there, and that knowledge has always   
conforted me." he replied.  
  
Laurella cuddled to Shingo, a large smile on her face. "I love you   
too, kit. I would die for our love, never doubt it for an instant."   
she whispered.  
  
"I never did doubt that." he whispered back.  
  
* * *  
  
Doctor Mizuno finished her last round of patients, completing their   
charts for the hospital`s records. It was tedious thing to do, but a   
vital task nonetheless to ensure proper care for the many patients   
under her auspices. She took great care for the utmost accuracy in   
her reports.  
  
"See you tomorrow, doctor!" said the last evening nurse who was   
going back home for the night.  
  
"See you tomorrow, Natsumi." she answered, not even looking up from   
her work.  
  
The old battery operated clock ticking relentlessly above the long   
term care unit reception was fast approaching nine o`clock, its worn   
hands moving ever so regularly in a noisy fashion as the seconds   
elapsed, but the middle-aged doctor did not hear it. She had learned   
to tune it out, pouring all of her attention on the task at hand.  
  
As she filled out one of her many forms, a man approached the desk   
in a silent and creepy, almost inhuman way. Once again, she didn`t   
even lift her eyes to see who was there.  
  
"Visiting hours are over, I`m afraid, please come back tomorrow   
morning at nine." she said in a polite tone.  
  
"It`s you I came to see." said the man.  
  
Her pen snaped in her hand as she clenched it much too hard. THAT   
VOICE! No, it couldn`t be...  
  
"Gingitsune?!?" she uttered, fear grasping her throat as she reeled   
from the shock of surprise.  
  
"I`m happy to see you too, Quartzite. Or should I call you Mizuno   
Akane? That is the name you go by these days, as it`s my   
understanding." said the silver haired man, smiling wickedly.  
  
"Don`t you ever call me Quartzite again, you evil freak! Those days   
are behind me, now." she said, cringing her teeth as she spoke. Her   
entire body language screamed "leave me alone".  
  
"You shouldn`t be ashamed of your desertion, old friend. Aebonite has   
decreed an amnesty for all the deserters who return to serve the new   
dark empire. Which remind me... WHY did you ever leave in the first   
place??? You were Jedite`s top lieutenant eighteen years ago, Beryl   
valued you above all the other servants of her generals, you might   
even have made it as a general yourself with your deceitful cunning!   
Tell me, what made you disappear from our ranks?"  
  
"First off, it`s none of your damn business. Second, I wouldn`t   
serve Beryl today let alone one of her bratty heirs, and lastly...   
BITE ME, SILVERFREAK!!!" she snapped.  
  
Gingitsune was a bit disappointed, but not completely defeated yet.   
Okay, he thought, go to plan B.  
  
"I`ll let you think this over, Quartzite. This world is dying, and   
you might not want to stay behind when it turns into a frozen   
hellhole and the dark empire leaves into the sunset."  
  
With that, he turned around and left.  
  
When she was finally alone, Akane threw away her broken pen and   
clipboard, trying hard not to cry. All those years she had managed   
to stay one step ahead of Beryl`s spies and now her old allies had   
finally found her out.  
  
"Damn you all, I`m not coming back!" she thought in strong resolve.  
  
"Mom?" sounded a voice from the other end of the corridor.  
  
"Ami darling?"  
  
"Are you okay?" she said as she picked up her mother`s clipboard   
and set it on the reception`s counter.  
  
Feeling that Ami and her mom had some kind of problem to work out,   
Rei decided to keep a little distance. Keeping to a badly lit part   
of the corridor, she nonetheless managed to see all that was going   
on. She`d meet them only if her friend invited her over.  
  
"What`s the matter?" asked Ami. She knew her mother well, and could   
tell she was trying to suppress something.  
  
"Nothing, my dear." she lied. "I just want you to know I love you   
more than anything in the world and nothing can ever make me leave   
you."  
  
"I know, mom, I feel this way too." said Ami. Although emotional   
situations were somewhat of a touchy matter to her, she never had   
any trouble communicating with her mother for some reason. As if   
she reserved her more emotional expressions for her. She hugged   
her tight. "I love you mom." she said.  
  
"I haven`t seen your girlfriend much lately, dear... tell me, is   
anything wrong between you two?" asked her mother.  
  
"Right now we`re... keeping a little distance." she replied.  
  
"So, you are having some difficulties."  
  
"It`s like she`s a completely different person now. She`s so cold   
and distant... she`s not the same Minako I fell in love with!" she   
explained, trying to contain her emotions like she`d always seen her   
mother do.  
  
"Don`t worry my darling, you`ll work this out. You`re a smart girl,   
and you always find a way."  
  
Rei smiled as she saw this touching moment between Ami and her   
mother. Shewished her own mother was still alive, she`d left her   
when she was so young... but then she noticed someone else watching   
them from the shadows, a vile presence with an evil aura. A silver   
haired man she remembered from her vision.  
  
"Hey, you!" she called out.  
  
Visibly surprised, Gingitsune fled. He was satisfied, having what he   
wanted: he now knew why Quartzite had defected from the dark kingdom,   
to protect her unborn child who was now a young woman. The silverfox   
had information that would serve his master well, and the first part   
of his mission was a success even though Mizuno Akane had refused to   
follow him. He could blackmail her later, he thought.  
  
Rei ran in hot pursuit, following him closely.  
  
"What was that?" wondered Akane who heard Rei calling out to her   
enemy.  
  
"I don`t know..." answered Ami. She then noticed the faint beeping   
sound from her backpack; her laptop was emitting the specific alert   
chime she`d programmed to warn her of detected aebonite radiation   
in the vicinity. It had been beeping for a few minutes now, but   
she`d just noticed it.  
  
"It`s my beeper, mom, I have to go now..." she lied, and ran off   
after Rei.  
  
Akane had the feeling that her daughter was running right into   
trouble. She hated doing this, but she dropped everything she was   
doing to follow as well.  
  
* * *  
  
Standing in the darkest corner of Chibi-Usa`s room, Ronmar stood   
vigilant watch over the little girl who`d been his daughter Celeste   
in her previous incarnation. He loved this little girl with all his   
heart, and for a knightmare this was quite an accomplishment. He   
would kill to protect her, and would gladly lay down his life for   
her.  
  
Right now, however, his other reincarnated daughter was in trouble,   
he could feel it. Taking a quick look at the peacefully resting   
small lady, he decided that she was safe for now; he could leave a   
while to help Rei.  
  
That he did. Turning into a small cloud of acrid smoke, he slipped   
out the bedroom window and became the night, floating silently to   
the place where he`d fing Sailor Mars.  
  
Smelling something weird in the air, Chibi-Usa woke up. She saw   
nothing around her but her moonlit room, but she had the very strong   
feeling SOMEONE was there just a second ago.  
  
"Who`s there?" she asked.  
  
Seeing no one, she crawled back under her covers and went back to   
sleep. Just as she was going back to the land of dreams, she   
whispered a single word that seemed to bring her confort whenever   
she pronounced it.  
  
"Ronmar..."  
  
* * *  
  
"Take a good look at this, Thorelia, as this is the final chance for   
Gingitsune to redeem his worthless hide." said Aebonite as he called   
his ally to look into his viewscreen. "You wouldn`t know where   
Ghangoroth is right now, would you?"  
  
"Sorry to say no, milord." said the sculptress as she approached   
her master`s throne and sat at his feet to enjoy the upcoming battle.   
Aebonite looked at her face and was pleased to notice how beautiful   
it looked.  
  
"You seem quite adept at molding this new synthetic material I   
provided you." he observed.  
  
"Thank you for that, lord Aebonite, it lasts much longer than the   
other one I used before. My masks can last up to three days now   
until my face starts to reject them." she said, smiling. "But it   
still doesn`t beat human flesh, I`m afraid."  
  
"Speaking of which, have you decided on a human`s face you`d like   
to have for yourself?" asked the tall and slim leader of the forces   
of evil.  
  
"Yes, I have." replied Thorelia. "Here she is." she said, handing   
over a small photograph to Aebonite. He took it and agreed with   
her choice.  
  
"A very nice face indeed, we`ll make sure that this young warrior   
girl doesn`t get her lovely traits smashed in combat." he said.   
"But enough with this, let`s see if Gingitsune can make use of this   
new arm he was given, not to mention those youmas you crafted so   
carefully." he added, making the small photograph disappear in a   
quick sleight of hand motion.  
  
"Yes, I can hardly wait to see Manticide and Cancera in a real   
battle!" said Thorelia like a proud mother.  
  
* * *  
  
"Damn!" thought Rei, looking left and right for any trace of   
Gingitsune who somehow managed to slip away from her. "Where did   
that snake go to?"  
  
The streets were rather crowded at this time, and the late shoppers   
moving up and down the busy streets were providing a great cover for   
anyone trying to be discreet. Where should she look? The stores were   
an endless supply of great hiding spots and searching them all could   
take hours.  
  
"Wait... up!" said Ami, running up to Rei and panting hard to catch   
her breath. I really have to spend more time in a gym, thought the   
brainy girl.  
  
"You`re too late, Ami, I lost him." said Rei, sighing loudly. "He   
got away I`m afraid."  
  
"Not quite..." replied Ami, opening her laptop and showing Rei her   
aebonite mineral readings. "I got them pinned down over there, at   
this big mall three blocks down. This signal seems a bit obvious,   
though, I smell a trap."  
  
"I don`t care, I`m not letting him escape me!" snapped Rei who ran   
towards the spot that Ami had indicated.  
  
"Wait for me, Rei, I`m coming, remember?" replied Ami. Too late, she   
was already gone. Hiding into a close by phone cabin, Ami called the   
others on her communicator- there was trouble ahead, and she`d need   
reinforcements for sure. She only had time to reach Laurella and   
Usagi when her mother surprised her and pulled her out of the cabin.  
  
"Mom?!? Shouldn`t you still be at the hospital?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, and you shouldn`t be chasing around for people like   
Gingitsune!" she replied.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Do you think I didn`t notice you were running after that man spying   
on us? You musn`t get involved with dangerous criminals like him!"   
she ordered her daughter.  
  
"But how do you know that he`s a..."  
  
"Don`t argue with me, young lady, just go home and forget all about   
him, let the police handle that!" she said forcefully.  
  
Ami was stunned. She never heard her mother get angry like this, or   
give her any orders before.  
  
"Go home, Ami. NOW." she repeated herself.  
  
"Err... okay." conceded Ami. She turned back and headed home,   
watching over her shoulder to see if her mother would follow. Sure   
enough, she turned around and sprinted in Rei`s direction.  
  
"Mom, why are you concerned with this?" she silently wondered. She   
quickly changed direction and followed her mother.  
  
* * *  
  
"Do you think they`ll come?" wondered the short and stout youma   
called Cancera. Sitting down on a small briefcase containing the   
flawed aebonite crystal. She flexed her bulging biceps in an attempt   
to fight her boredom.  
  
"History has shown that the girl fighters attacked us at every turn,   
appearing out of nowhere and being there to stop us in even our most   
secretive missions. This piece of crystal is sending such an obvious   
signal to track, it`s very unlikely they`ll pass it up." replied the   
tall and eerily slender youma Manticide who practiced a few martial   
arts moves to warm herself up.  
  
A dark portal opened up in front of the two vile creatures, allowing   
the evil Gingitsune to reach his two acolytes who were waiting out   
for their battle to begin. Set in the middle of the mall`s huge   
parking lot, there`d be plenty of room to maneuver, just as the dark   
empire general liked it.  
  
"I`ve attracted some attention to myself as I tried to get Quartzite   
to rejoin our cause, and that can mean only one thing." he said.  
  
"The sailor warriors are on their way." guessed Manticide.  
  
"Correct. Their usual pattern, as the records of Beryl`s encounters   
with them has shown." he replied.  
  
"All right! Finally I can smash some skulls!!!" said Cancera, getting   
to her feet and bashing her fist into her palm in feverish   
anticipation.  
  
"You know the plan, girls... I need to know the weaknesses of   
whichever girls show up first, so I`ll study them from a distance   
while you get things rolling." said their leader.  
  
A silhouette entered the neon lit concrete area and made her way   
across the numerous cars that were parked in neat rows while their   
owners were inside shopping. The youmas looked at each other while   
Gingitsune backed away slowly, eager to get things going to warm   
themselves up.  
  
The girl coming their way was Sailor Mars. They had NO idea how   
things would soon get...  
  
"Who are you?" asked Manticide who stepped in front of her master   
as he slipped out of harm`s way.  
  
"I am a defender of love and justice, keeper of the sacred fire,   
Sailor Mars!" said the scout of mars, taking the most dramatic pose   
she could muster. Her temper was burning as brightly as the flame   
of her devotion to the fire god, and that was not a good thing as   
it seriously impaired her judgement. She should have waited for   
reinforcements, but had charged ahead anyway.  
  
"We`ll see how good you are, mars!" said Cancera, rushing forward   
toward Rei. She nimbly jumped over the dashing youma and landed in   
front of Manticide. Avoiding her serie of swift punches, she gave   
the second youma a solid kick to the waist and an elbow punch to the   
jaw. The slender youma fell down like a rag doll, knocked senseless   
by the pain.  
  
Running back towards Mars, Cancera took her by surprise this time.   
She slammed into her, body slamming Sailor Mars to the snow covered   
ground. She used all her weight as they fell down to crush the earth   
defender and wound her as much as possible. Rei didn`t appreciate   
this.  
  
"You`ll pay for this!" she thought as she placed her hands on   
Cancera`s face. "FIRE SOUL!!!" she screamed, her palms filling with   
scorching fire. The youma threw herself back, holding her scalded   
face in her hands. She screamed out in pain, swearing loudly enough   
to make a dead nun blush.  
  
"You`ll pay for that!!!" screamed Cancera. In a flash, her body took   
a more bulky appearance, covering her chest, head and limbs in a soft   
red armor and replacing her hands with crablike pincers. She was now   
a huge crustacean warrior ready to take heavy punishment without   
blinking.  
  
"We`ll rip you apart, you bitch!" said Manticide who got off the   
ground. Rei turned around and saw that the other youma had taken her   
true form, a preying mantis human hybrid. Her hands had extended into   
serrated third arm segments, her mouth twisted into sharp mandibules   
and her whole body was a veritable fighting machine of unearthly   
insect agility.  
  
"Oh hell..." thought Sailor Mars. She tried to think of what to do   
next, but the two youma attacked simultaneously. The heavy blows of   
Cancera and the swift strikes of Manticide sent her down in no more   
than an instant. Using their twisted limbs, the youma gave each   
other a high five.  
  
"Score one for the dark empire!!!" they shouted.  
  
"You two are a disgrace to your master." said a sweet feminine voice   
coming from a very short distance- looking to find the source, the   
youma looked up and saw a woman standing atop the electric light pole   
closest to them. Dressed in red and black, she wore a black face mask  
that was somewhat reminiscent of early hockey goalkeeper masks. "You   
have no grace, no style and no honor." she added.  
  
"Hey, you`re not one of the sailor girls!" said Cancera.  
  
"Wow, you`re very smart!" said Quartzite. She pointed her hand   
towards the crab youma and a surge of blue lightning surged from   
Quartzite, hitting the youma head on. Suddenly, the bulky youma`s   
weight increased tenfold as the pull of gravity increased around   
her; she collapsed immediately, unable to stand up with so much   
pressure exerted on her back.  
  
Quartzite shot another blast at Manticide, but the nimble youma   
dodged easily before returning fire: she pointed her serrated pincers   
to the intruding fighter and fired a serie of deadly darts in her   
direction. Most of them missed the leaping warrior, but a few of   
them hit her left arm, drawing blood.  
  
"Well, this is getting interesting." thought Gingitsune as he   
analyzed his opponents and sized up their weaknesses.  
  
This new warrior that`d just shown up looked strange, thought Mars,   
but at least she`s fighting the youma. For now she seemed to be on   
her side, and she could use all the help she could get.  
  
"BURNING MANDALA!!!" screamed Sailor Mars, summoning a great circle   
of fire that created twelve individual small circlets of burning   
flame; she aimed at Manticide, cutting her down mere seconds before   
the youma could skewer the wounded Quartzite.  
  
"Are you all right?" she asked to her unexpected ally. She took a   
look at her shoulder and saw it was pierced with several darts made   
of Manticide`s armored hide. Rei wanted to pull them out, but the   
masked fighter objected.  
  
"If you remove them, it could cause a hemorrage. Leave them in for   
now." she said, her eyes showing clear sides of supressed pain.  
  
"I have to take you to a doctor!" Mars objected.  
  
"Don`t worry... I know a good one." said Quartzite, giggling.  
  
This felt so weird. This strange woman had powers whose energy gave   
her shudders, so much that they could only be evil in nature- yet   
so gentle and kind hearted she was that Rei`s intuition told her she   
could be trusted.  
  
"Can you move?" asked Rei.  
  
"I can walk... but these darts are venemous I`m afraid, it`s   
knocking my strenght out. I can`t fight anymore." answered Quartzite.  
  
A loud scream came from the street several dozens feet away, it was   
Sailor Mercury in her brand new senshi outfit. "MARS! BEHIND YOU!!!"  
  
The soldier of mars turned around, but was too slow. Her body was   
trapped under the heavy youma Cancera who pinned her down helplessly.  
  
"When Manticide comes around, she`ll be VERY disappointed that I   
didn`t save any of you for her to rip apart!" screamed the burned   
youma, holding up her pincer to tear Mars` throat open. Mars  
panicked, as she was completely immobilized and Mercury was too far   
to help.  
  
Cancera was about to strike, but she suddenly froze up as a strange   
acrid smell offended Rei`s nose. The crablike monster fell down   
besides Sailor Mars, her backside torn open by the large L-shaped   
blade of Ronmar`s battle axe. The dread knight swung his axe up and   
rested it on his shoulder as he offered his other hand to help Mars   
get back on her feet.  
  
"I`m not too late, am I?" asked the dread knight, his red eyes   
glowing under the visor of his shining golden armor.  
  
"N... no..." said the shaken Mars. "I`m glad you came when you did."  
  
"Anything for my girls."  
  
"Okay, playtime`s over." taunted Gingitsune as he came back under   
the electric glow of the parking`s neon lighting, removing his winter   
coat to reveal his muscled chest... and his brand new left arm, which   
was both stronger and mismatched to his right one. It was made of a   
silvery material, and a somewhat appropriate look considering his   
name. He firmly planted his feet in the packed snow and awaited his   
opponents. "IT`S SHOWTIME!!!"  
  
The wounded Manticide stood up, her thick insect hide scarred by the   
fire attack and her many antennas melted beyond recognition. "I`m   
with you, master..." she whispered.  
  
"You better step away, hum... what`s your name?" asked Mars.  
  
"Quartzite." answered the masked woman who slowly staggered from the   
battleground.  
  
"Let her go." whispered Gingitsune to Manticide. "We`ll deal with   
her later."  
  
In a bright flash of sapphire light, Deadshot appeared in the hands   
of Sailor Mercury who joined her allies Sailor Mars and Ronmar;   
Gingitsune looked silently at Manticide who "smiled" back at him   
with her mantis mandibules and multi-faceted eyes. They were ready   
to fight as well.  
  
* * *  
  
"Am I late for the big fight?" asked the psionic Ghangoroth to   
Thorelia and Aebonite who were intensely staring at the crystal   
viewscreen which was transmitting the battle of Gingitsune live   
from Tokyo.  
  
"You missed the warmup, but the main action is yet to start, my   
friend." replied his master.  
  
"Where were you anyway?" asked Thorelia. "Your last assignement at   
the aebonite refinement plant was done hours ago!" she noticed.  
  
"I had some personal business to attend to. Let`s leave it at that."   
he answered, showing not the slightest trace of emotion as was his   
usual manner.  
  
Aebonite wondered what was going on in his general`s head- he wished   
that for once, HE was the one with the telepathic gift.  
  
"You don`t want that, milord, trust me." said Ghangoroth. "Knowing   
everything about everyone without even having to ask, it gets old   
really fast. Let`s watch the show, now, shall we?"  
  
* * *  
  
The clash was brutal, as Mars, Mercury and Ronmar charged with all   
their strenght at their two enemies- Manticide did her best to stop   
their assault, but three quick ice arrows from Deadshot silenced her   
quickly, leaving only Gingitsune... who was silently laughing as they   
rushed him.  
  
With a single outburst of kinetic energy, the silver haired man   
raised a powerful forcefield around himself, blockcing the axe,   
arrow and firebolt soaring his way. The three attacks hit the   
glowing shield with unimaginable force, though they did nothing as   
the energy these blows delivered was readily absorbed by the dark   
empire general and redirected right back to its source. All three   
attackers were thrown back with force, landing six feet behind.   
They were grateful for the thick layer of packed snow covering the   
concrete parking lot, as it prevented them from being seriously   
injured.  
  
"Now it`s time to show you what I`m capable of!" said the twisted   
warrior. From the edge of his forcefield, an energy buildup appeared   
and swirled around the surface of the shield, gathering and focusing   
into a single spot. With a mighty punch, Gingitsune hit his shield   
from the inside on that very spot to create a powerful blast of   
kinetic force- having spotted Ronmar`s recent chest wounds, he   
aimed his beam right there. Ronmar was blown away by the exploding   
bolt of force, and his barely healed ribs were smashed right away.   
He had no choice but to dissolve back into smoke until he could have   
regenerated himself to health.  
  
"The dread knight makes one." mocked Gingitsune. "Who`s next?"  
  
"Let`s combine our forces!" suggested Mercury.  
  
"Right!" agreed Mars. "FIRE SOOOOOOUUUUL!" she screamed, a small   
fireball forming at her fingertips, soaring towards her enemy;   
Mercury shot an ice arrow at the same moment so that the two shots   
would meet- they formed a flaming bolt of cold fire going straight   
towards the forcefield. The screeching attack made contact,   
detonated in a blazing temperature shock... and did absolutely   
nothing.  
  
"I don`t believe this..." uttered Mercury.  
  
"Believe it." replied Gingitsune, sending a second volley towards   
Mercury who was hit squarely in the head, sending her down in total   
disorientation and disabling her temporarily. Before Mars could   
react, the dark empire general quickly glanced at her and aimed his   
next shot at the weakest part of her body- the blow struck her   
straight in her lower stomach, knocking her down on her back.  
  
When she tried to get back up, only two sensations were   
distinguishable from this pain that tore her insides... the evil   
laughing echoing through the air, and the warm, sticky blood   
trickling along her tight from underneath her skirt. Her mind   
clearing from the fog that had seized her when she was hit, Rei   
realized to her horror WHERE this blood was coming from and WHY she   
was bleeding- putting her hands to her stomach, she could no longer   
feel the tiny spark of life that had been there for almost three   
months now.  
  
As Sailor Mars began to scream, Gingitsune stopped laughing. He   
recognized this look on her face and the sound of her scream, for   
he`d seen it a thousand years before on Queen Serenity`s face. It   
was the pain of a mother loosing her child.  
  
A spark of light clicked deep in Rei`s soul, as a response to her   
distress. In an instant, she was bathed in hellfire which burned up   
her scout uniform to replace it with a full senshi fuku bright red   
as the flames of hell itself, along with the visor and metal guards   
that the other senshi had also received. The hellfire then shot   
upwards, amplifying itself a thousandfold and screaming along with   
Rei, their two voices blending together the calls of suffering and   
of fiery retribution that took the form of a blazing phoenix.  
  
As the phoenix soared into the Tokyo sky and grew to an unimaginable   
wingspan of more than a thousand feet, Gingitsune panicked.  
  
He knew he was going to die.  
  
The huge phoenix illuminated the entire town with the strength of a   
dozen suns, burning up the air with the power of the hottest heat   
wave, turning the icy winter into blasting summer for a few moments.   
Gingitsune ran, but he didn`t even know why. That firebird was so   
large, he`s have to run for an hour just so he would not be directly   
underneath it. With the cries of pain from Mars still ringing in his   
ears, he looked up at the blinding form. As all the snow around him   
melted and cold water seeped inside his boots, he could have sworn   
the phoenix was staring straight at him.  
  
With tears running down her face, Sailor Mars screamed the words   
that sealed the fate of her unborn child`s murderer.  
  
"INFERNAL PHOENIX FIRE!!!"  
  
The phoenix plunged down from the sky, lunging forward towards   
Gingitsune and concentrating all its infernal heat into a single   
beam of scorching death. The general quickly raised his forcefield   
back up, but the might of the fiery doom outside was too much to   
endure; the air inside his protective bubble soon boiled, drying his   
lungs in a second and silencing his screams of pain from the third   
degree burns forming all over his body. As his replacement arm   
melted and his skin cracked and crumbled, his shield gave away to   
the flaming onslaught and the entire blast of fire formed a ten feet   
wide ball of oblivion around him.  
  
When the flames died down, the twenty feet wide smoking crater   
surrounded by incinerated car wrecks and piles of twisted metal   
lodged inside cooling puddles of molten concrete were all that   
remained of the once mighty Gingitsune.  
  
Throughout Tokyo, there was awe-inspired silence. Nobody could have   
possibly missed THAT.  
  
Everyone was silent, except for the now soul powered Rei who cried   
the loss of her child.  
  
Sailor Mercury joined her and knelt besides her, holding the wounded   
senshi in her arms.  
  
"I`m so sorry Rei, I had no idea..." she said, silently crying along   
with her friend.  
  
"Why did this have to happen, Ami? I lost what was most important to   
me, all for those damned powers I never even asked for!!!" she said,   
crying her heart out.  
  
"Come with me, Rei, you need help." said Ami. Her head still hurt   
like hell, but right now she couldn`t care less. Her friend needed   
help, and her mother was the best doctor in this town to do that.   
Providing she hadn`t been hurt in all this confusion... why DID she   
come here anyway, Ami wondered, she distinctly remembered seeing her   
head this way...  
  
* * *  
  
"Well it seems that the faith placed in Gingitsune was misplaced   
after all. He not only screwed up his mission but also made one of   
our enemies even stronger now." commented Aebonite.  
  
"Too bad. We could have used his ability to find weaknesses."   
commented Ghangoroth.  
  
"Regardless, our plan goes on. We`ll take advantage of this flashy   
display of power as a smokescreen to our second phase. Victory shall   
yet be ours." said Aebonite with pride. "The death of this planet   
shall ensure the rebirth of our own world!!!"  
  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  



	29. Tragedy and Apology

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
WEBCHAT APPLET LOADED- PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR NICKNAME:  
  
Kaol  
  
CONNECTING... REQUEST ACCEPTED  
  
WELCOME TO SAILOR_MOON_IS_REAL ROOM  
  
CURRENT USERS: Kaol, Yohann_DS, Commandante, Sonya-chan, Tiga  
  
  
Yohann_DS of course not! Do you really believe that load of crap?  
  
Tiga I saw some pics on TV, it was totally unbelievable!!!  
  
Commandante The japanese governement does seems to be trying to   
cover this up.  
  
Kaol Hiya all. What`s happening?  
  
Sonya-chan Hi Kaol. We`re talking about that huge firebird over   
Tokyo from last night.  
  
Yohann_DS yeah, and how the authorities are trying to deny it ever   
happened, like most of the stuff that concerns Sailor Moon.  
  
Tiga we all saw the images on TV, no way that was a gas explosion!  
  
Commandante Gas doesn`t take precise shapes, and burning gas   
doesn`t move down into a single point of a parking lot.  
  
Kaol you seem to know what you`re talking about, commandante.  
  
Commandante of course, I know someone who knows someone who... you   
get the picture. There was a security guard at the mall who saw some   
people there fighting...  
  
Sonya-chan yeah? Who?  
  
Commandante Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury (in one of those cool new   
combat uniforms), a guy with a metal arm, two odd shaped women (a   
mantis and a crab) and another guy in a gold battle armor.  
  
Kaol a GOLD battle armor???  
  
Commandante yup. sounds nice, huh?  
  
Tiga sure does.  
  
Yohann_DS why the special interest in the gold wearing knight,   
Kaol? After all, that immense phoenix in the japanese sky seems like   
a way more fascinating subject...  
  
Commandante quite correct, my friend.  
  
Sonya-chan she`s not answering, you think she`s caught in lag?  
  
USER Kaol HAS LEFT THE CHAT  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 29  
  
TRAGEDY AND APOLOGY  
  
  
A few hours after the great phoenix summoned by the ultimate attack   
of Sailor Mars who attained soul power in a burning blaze of   
hellfire, scientists all over the globe scattered to try and   
ascertain the sheer amount of energy unleashed in that all too short   
instant in which Gingitsune came to his fiery death. Huge crowds   
gathered around the area where the fierce battle had taken place,   
hoping to catch a glimpse of the still smoking twenty feet wide   
crater where the dark empire stood as he was being disintegrated by   
the mighty firebird.  
  
As a result of such large amounts of heat being unleashed at once,   
the local temperature had increased spontaneously to the equivalent   
of the sahara at high noon for a few minutes, slowly returning to   
its more normal seasonal value of subzero biting cold, although it   
was still mild enough to be comparable to a nice spring morning.  
  
Among the large crowd were two young people whose heart was filled   
with graver concerns than mere curiosity over something that had   
crawled out of a psy-factor episode. Tsukino Shingo and his   
girlfriend Laurella Hammerson, who were really Emerald Knight and   
Sailor Jendra, were trying to look at the scene and figure out why   
this seemingly needless battle had taken place.  
  
As a result of the colliding weather patterns of blistering heat and   
stinging cold, a rainstorm had started just a few moments earlier,   
though it was not the dreadful thunderstorm that had announced the   
inferno a few months before but rather a gentle downpour filled with   
sorrows and grief.  
  
"Rei`s tears..." whispered Laurella as she felt the warm rain soak   
its way through her coat.  
  
"I still can`t believe this... she was pregnant and none of us knew   
about it." said Shingo.  
  
"You should know Rei by now. Always showing us a strong face, never   
letting through any signs of weakness... although I wouldn`t call   
this a weakness, I mean, having a child should be the most beautiful   
thing, and..."  
  
Shingo put his finger to Laurella`s lips, stopping her as her   
explanation increased in velocity and reduced in sense. He knew   
exactly what she meant.  
  
"Hush, my love. I understand, no need for words." he whispered.  
  
"Thanks for being there, Kit, I wouldn`t want to be alone right   
now..." she said.  
  
Shingo silently agreed, as he knew just how much empathic his lover   
was. Because she had known so much pain in her life, her sensitivity   
for feeling the pain of others was that much more powerful. All too   
often he had seen her loose herself in the sorrow of her friends, so   
he had learned to become her anchor so she could always pull herself   
up. He put his arm around his waist and whispered in her hear. "We   
have nothing left to do here, let`s go find Ami at the hospital, she   
can tell us more.  
  
Laurella agreed, and the teenage couple slipped its way out of the   
pressing crowd.  
  
* * *  
  
Once again a new enemy had struck those she loved. Once again she   
was sitting next to a hospital bed where her wounded friend was lying   
unconscious. Ami was feeling ready to explode.  
  
"Rei will be sleeping for at least twenty hours from this sedative I   
gave her." said doctor Mizuno to her daughter. "Physically, she will   
bounce back from the trauma in very little time, she`s young and in   
very good health. It`s the emotional trauma that concerns me..."  
  
"I was completely shocked to find out about this... I never imagined   
that she could be expecting a child." said Ami, remembering the   
instant when she saw Rei bleeding, the terrible pain she felt as she   
realized her child had died.  
  
Mizune Akane was having a rather large problem now- she knew that Ami   
would surely ask how her young patient had lost her baby, how she`d   
been brought to the hospital and moreover what she was doing close   
to this horrible battle in which the flaming phoenix had been invoked.   
She began to sweat, although she wasn`t sure if it was from her   
nerversnous or from the remainder of Manticide`s venom coursing   
through her veins. It had been a few hours and she could move around,   
but she still felt a bit foggy from the attack... not to mention that   
her shoulder was bleeding a little and the bandage she covered the   
wound with might become soaked at any moment, allowing the blood to   
seep through her blouse.  
  
Surely THAT would capture her daughter`s attention. No, she couldn`t   
keep this secret from her anymore... Ami had to learn the truth, she   
was old enough now and god knows she was mature enough to handle this.  
  
"Rei looks so peaceful asleep... she shows none of the grief she felt   
before you gave her these tranquilizers." oberved Ami, brushing Rei`s   
raven hair off her face. The sleeping girl mumbled some inaudible   
complaint, then fell deeper into her dreamless slumber.  
  
"Ami, darling, there`s something I`ve been meaning to talk to you   
about..." said Akane, her voice filled with hesitation.  
  
"Yes, mom what about?"  
  
"Tell me, you heard of Sailor Moon, right?" she asked.  
  
"Oh dear god, could she know?" thought Ami. "Yes, like everybody..."   
she answered.  
  
"You know that she and her friends fight some evil beings from   
another world to protect this one, I imagine..." added Akane.  
  
"Oh no, I tried to hide it, but this time she knows!!!" thought the   
panicked Ami. "There`s no need to say anything more, mom, I know   
where this is going. I tried my best not to get you involved in my   
battles, but things just caught up with you... I apologize deeply   
for ever having you witness the destruction that follows me, but   
sometimes destiny has a strange way of doing things. That`s what   
Sailor Pluto says, anyhow." she said.  
  
"Huh?" blurted out Akane.  
  
"All I`m saying is... sorry if my being Sailor Mercury has caused   
you any problems..." said Ami who noticed the confused expression of   
her mother. "You have no idea what I`m talking about, do you???"  
  
The young girl then noticed the blood stain forming on her   
shoulder... at the exact same spot where that mysterious woman   
fighter had been wounded by the youma Manticide.  
  
"Mom... that wound... the warning you gave me about that weird man   
last night... does... that... mean...?"  
  
"And you... Sailor Mercury?!? My own daughter, a hero from the   
golden age of the moon kingdom!"  
  
"You know about the moon kingdom???" wondered Ami.  
  
"I certainly do. I must tell you the truth, darling, and you should   
brace yourself... how old do you think I am?"  
  
"Thirty-eight years old, of course!" answered Ami with implacable   
mathematical precision.  
  
"I`m much older than that, darling. I`m over eleven hundred years   
old." replied Akane. Ami`s mind was blown away. "I wasn`t always   
called Mizuno Akane... my real name is Quartzite, I`m a former   
warrior of a world called the dark kingdom. I was a lieutenant in   
the army of the kingdom`s ruler, a twisted queen called Beryl."  
  
"I know, mom, I fought her over three years ago."  
  
"Did you? Well, I was a very dedicated warrior in her army, and I   
contributed in the downfall of many civilizations, all in the name   
of Beryl and Metalia." said Akane, stopping to ponder whether Ami   
knew about Metalia. Ami guessed what her mother was going to ask,   
and nodded to show that she did know.  
  
"As dedicated and efficient as I was, I understood the politics of   
power all too well and knew that further promotion could only come   
through support from a superior officer, and it so happened that one   
of them took a liking to me. I used this to my advantage, and my   
skills of seduction were going to be the key to my advance in rank...   
until I realized I was pregnant with you. It forced me to take a hard   
look on my life, and I came to the conclusion that it would be wrong   
to have you become what I was at that point. And so I fled, using   
whatever powers I had to reach the earth. Although it had been locked   
away a millenium before by Serenity`s silver crystal, I was able to   
slip through and make a new life for myself." explained Akane.  
  
"And dad... where does he fit in there?" wondered Ami.  
  
"Oh yes... he`s s sweet, loving man I met when I arrived in Japan.   
I fell in love with him immediately, and he returned my love   
unconditionaly. That`s something I never could experience in the   
dark kingdom, where you just use other people to your own ends. I   
was afraid he`d leave me when he learned I was expecting you, but   
he loved you as his own, never questioning who the real father was.   
I simply told him I didn`t want to turn back to my past ever again,   
and that was good enough for him."  
  
"And my biological father... who was he?" asked Ami, afraid of the   
answer.  
  
"He was a high ranking officer of Beryl, a strikingly handsome and   
very cunning man... his name was Jedite." answered Akane.  
  
The name Jedite echoed in Ami`s hear, echoing back and forth in her   
shocked mind. No, that was not possible!!! Not HIM, the evil man she   
had fought when she discovered being Sailor Mercury, the same man who   
had almost killed her and her friends a year later when he returned   
from exile, it just couldn`t be, her mind wouldn`t accept it.  
  
"Ami, are you all right???" asked Akane.  
  
Her mother`s words of concern came in distorted just like the world   
around her, as the hospital room spun faster and faster until all of   
it fell into the inky black veil forming over her eyes.  
  
She fainted.  
  
* * *  
  
Wrapping her arms around the waist of her newly found boyfriend,   
Makoto kept her eyes closed while she was passionately kissing him.   
In those moments of bliss, she never wanted the outside world to   
intrude. That was a real shame, as she still wasn`t aware of the   
extraordinary eventsthat had taken place during the night. Of   
course, Xavier would have mentionned the phoenix, but Makoto had   
insisted he did not sour her good mood with bad news, so he hadn`t   
told her.  
  
Of course, he couldn`t know about Rei either, could he? And so she   
had spent the last hour exchanging her saliva with his. Her legs   
were still paralyzed with no sign of ever improving, but right now   
she didn`t care, and Xavier was happy to help her forget.  
  
Breaking their non-stop marathon kiss, Xavier finally said something.  
  
"I have to go to work, now." he said, smiling.  
  
"Oh, must you???" she pleaded with her sparkling eyes.  
  
"Yes, my boss simply can`t get anything done without me. I`m   
surrounded by idiots, and one of them got fired just yesterday, so   
I`ll have to pick up his slack to make up for the void he left."   
he explained, getting off her bedside.  
  
"Come back later tonight, won`t you?" she asked.  
  
"Of course I will, see you later." he said, turning around and   
walking out. Just as he was going through the door, he stopped and   
looked at Makoto who still hadn`t taken her eyes off him.  
  
"I love you." he said, then left.  
  
Makoto couldn`t believe her ears. After all this time spent single,   
all these jerks she dated, she finally found someone who REALLY loved   
her! She would have gotten up and danced, if it hadn`t been for this   
damn bullet she got in her spine...  
  
Walking towards the nearest exit, Xavier crossed the path of a young   
couple walking in, a young teenage girl with brown hair and a tall,   
muscular boy who looked roughly her age holding her by the waist. As   
he went by them, both himself and the young man had a strange feeling,   
like a bolt of lightning linking them both for an instant. They   
stopped and looked each other for a minute.  
  
"Excuse me..." said Xavier, "...do I know you?"  
  
"I don`t know... did you ever come visit Kino Makoto in   
readaptation?" asked Shingo.  
  
"Yes, we have been getting quite close ever since I have brought her   
in after her... well, her accident."  
  
"Are you Xavier?" wondered Shingo.  
  
"Yes, I am. Did Makoto mention me?"  
  
"Are you kidding? She can`t stop talking about you!" replied   
Laurella.  
  
"You`re friends of hers, I assume?" asked Xavier.  
  
"You bet. I`m Shingo, this is Laurella."  
  
"Glad to meet you two. Take good care of her while I`m gone, she`s a   
wonderful woman." said Xavier.  
  
"Of course!" said Laurella.  
  
The couple then went back on their way. Makoto`s boyfriend thought   
about this for a minute, then resumed his way back to the exit. He   
smiled, then started thinking about the many orders of business his   
work would require him to undertake that day.  
  
A new one had just been added.  
  
* * *  
  
Inside a busy gymnasium, dozens of teenagers were involved in many   
team sports, each one of them a member in one of that college`s   
several sport clubs. The basketball team had won many trophies in   
prestigious tournaments over the years and was favorite to win again   
that year, although it was the volleyball team that was attracting   
all the attention that morning.  
  
The star player of the team was in top shape, serving ball after   
ball with unmatched strength and deadly precision. Aino Minako was   
always a great player, but today she had something more. She had a   
killer instinct no one ever knew she possessed.  
  
"Serve!" said the referee.  
  
Minako threw the white leather ball up, then jumped and snapped it   
forward with all her might. The spike was aimed directly at the girl   
nearest to the net on the other side, and she was hit directly in   
the face. She fell backwards, her thoughts scrambled by the vicious   
serve.  
  
"Point!" said the referee, who then ran straight to the girl whom   
he noticed was hurt by that last spike.  
  
Everyone on the court seemed concerned, except Minako who picked up   
a spare volleyball and spun it fast on her right index, the same   
finger she used to cast her soul crescent smasher. She looked very   
pleased with her performance.  
  
"What`s the matter with you, miss Aino? Don`t you see that girl is   
hurt?" asked the referee with anger flaring in his voice. The team   
coach noticed that Minako showed no remorse whatsoever and was very   
displeased with his player.  
  
"You did that on purpose, didn`t you?" he accused her.  
  
"You can`t prove a thing. Besides, all she had to do was get out of   
the way." argued Minako with a smug look on her face, her left hand   
twirling her ever darkening mane of hair. It was now dark blonde   
with many jet black streaks.  
  
"That`s it, I`ve had enough of your attitude, young lady... you`re   
off the team!!!" said the coach.  
  
"What??? You can`t do that, I`m the best player you ever had!!!" she   
said angrily.  
  
"Be that as it may, your attitude stinks! Until you can show some   
teamwork, you`re out of here. Hit the showers, now."  
  
Minako stepped heavily as she went to the showers under the eyes of   
everyone in the gym, and she violently punched a tennis racket rack   
on her way out, sending all its content on the floor.  
  
"Where do they get off telling me what to do? They have no idea the   
kind of hell I`ve been through this year!!!" she mumbled as she   
opened her locker and started removing her clothes to take a shower.  
  
"Perhaps, but I do." said a familiar voice behind her.  
  
"Setsuna? What the hell are you doing here?" asked Minako. She did   
not seemed pleased to see the guardian of time show up at her school.  
  
"Maybe this can give you an idea?!" said the serene woman, holding   
the morning headlines.  
  
FIVE MORE PRESUMED CRIMINALS FOUND WITH SEVERE LIMB FRACTURES:   
SAILOR V STRIKES AGAIN  
  
"Oh, THAT. Can`t a girl have a hobby?"  
  
"You`re stepping over the line, here, and it must stop. NOW." said   
Setsuna. Her face showed no emotion, but her eyes spoke volumes.  
  
"Or else what, you`ll spank me?"  
  
"What you`re doing is horribly wrong, you`ve taken the law in your   
own hands and made yourself judge, jury and executionner!!!"  
  
"Isn`t that what we always did, against Beryl and all the other   
kooks? Made ourselves the police for who`s right and wrong on this   
planet?"  
  
"But we only fight those who would destroy humanity or bend it to   
its will! Petty criminals are not our concern!" argued Setsuna.  
  
"Yadda yadda yadda. Excuses, excuses, excuses. This city needs   
policing, face it Sets! And if there`s anyone capable of doing it,   
it`s Sailor V! Now bug off, unless you wish to fight me." said   
Minako, a burning flame in her eyes. Setsuna could tell she was   
serious.  
  
"Just remember, your dark path will catch up with you one day...   
when the bill comes due, the recovering agency wil be merciless."   
said the guardian of time who left the sweat covered Minako to her   
much needed shower.  
  
"Good riddance!" she told to Setsuna.  
  
She slammed her locker shut and entered the showers. On the way   
there, she walked by a mirror and took a moment to look at her eyes.   
They were almost comletely black just like her hair.  
  
"Oh well, I guess it comes with the new powers." she thought,   
shrugging off this dreadful feeling that had been looming over her   
for a while now.  
  
* * *  
  
A dark portal opened in front of Aebonite`s throne and out of it   
stepped one of his generals, the reptilian being Dokuryo. Advancing   
towards his ruler, the toxic dragon made a gracious bow to salute   
him.  
  
"Welcome back, Dokuryo." said Aebonite, taking a long sip from his   
glass of blood red wine. "I assume all went well on your operation?"  
  
"Quite right, Lord Aebonite. The marine youma cohort provided by our   
dear Thorelia did a superb job of placing those crystals near the   
underwater volcanoes of the pacific rim... even as we speak, the   
entire west of america and most of the small south pacific islands   
are starting to feel a chill..." said Dokuryo, smiling wickedly.  
  
"Welcome back, friend." said Ghangoroth who appeared out of nowhere   
as he usually did. One of his many psionic abilities was to mask his   
own presence, and the resulting appearances "out of thin air" were   
something he rather enjoyed doing.  
  
"So how are you doing today, my psychic ally?" wondered the reptile.   
He had taken a liking to this man who had pulled him out of an   
underground waste water dump in the Tokyo sewers to put him back in   
action serving the heir of his former mistress Beryl.  
  
"I`ve been busy with Aebonite extraction and purification." he   
replied.  
  
"Shouldn`t Gingitsune be here?" asked Dokuryo.  
  
"You`ll need to be briefed on the latest events, spending so much   
time out of touch has left a bit disconnected..." said Aebonite as   
he proceeded to explain the battle of his doomed general and how he   
was torched alive by a giant phoenix.  
  
"Wow, that`s amazing... I guess we picked up a lot of energy from   
that one!" commented the toxic dragon.  
  
"No, unfortunately... the energy expended by Sailor Mars was much   
too refined and usage specific to be captured by our aebonite   
crystals. All this heat was lost to our effort." answered the evil   
lord of the dark empire, running his fingers through the few strands   
of dark blue hair not set in his ponytail that were loose in his   
face.  
  
"I`d like to offer a new initiative to the master plan, milord."   
said Ghangoroth, the heatless flames surrounding his head moving in   
waves as his breath disturbed their steady patterns.  
  
"I`m listening..." replied Aebonite.  
  
"As you know, the sailor senshi use a great amount of energy on a   
daily basis, although it`s much too refined in its form to be usable   
by our crystals. I have, however, come into something else which   
will be good for us on two levels at once: provide us with vast   
amounts of energy AND destabilize our opponents." suggested   
Ghangoroth.  
  
"I`m intrigued..." said his master.  
  
"It will require us to spend a good amount of energy getting my plan   
into motion, but the paybacks will be far greater than you could   
possibly imagine!" explained the psionic man.  
  
And so he gave the details of his plan to Aebonite and Dokuryo. Evil   
laughter could be heard filling the throne room after he was done...  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh my god... she lost the child?!?" said Makoto, tears filling her   
eyes.  
  
"Yes, and this is what triggered her soul power ascension, and fueled   
that huge phoenix that burned in the sky last night." said Laurella.  
  
"And you knew she was pregnant? You allowed her to transform and   
fight regardless???" asked Shingo, concerned about Makoto`s attitude.  
  
"She swore me to secrecy, said she`d be careful about it... how was   
I supposed to know she`d run around challenging cyborg freak jobs?   
Besides, none of us really knows exactly what effect transforming   
could have on an unborn child... it might be disastrous, or be the   
greatest thing for him. There was no way to find out, and Rei`s not   
the kind of girl to back off form a fight. I tried to convince her   
to lay low with the Sailor Mars bit, but you know Rei..."  
  
"She`s more hard headed than Ronmar with his helmet on." said Shingo.   
He got crossed looks for that last remark. "Hey, it`s true, I met   
him on the moon kingdom!"  
  
"Anyway..." interrupted Laurella, trying to steer the conversation   
away from the dread knight, "She`s under the care of Ami`s mother.   
You can visit her if you like, but she`s knocked over with sleepers   
right now. She`ll be out until tomorrow at least."  
  
"I have a feeling you`ll be there to help her out the way you were   
there for me and Usagi." suggested Makoto.  
  
"Every fiber of my being wants to help her." answered Laurella, a   
tear forming in her eye.  
  
"Your heart is the most compassionate I know, Laurella, that`s why   
I love you so much." said Shingo, kissing Laurella`s cheek. He   
brought a smile to her lips.  
  
"Thank you, Kit. Your love means everything to me." she replied.  
  
"Oh, that`s soooooo beautiful!" thought Makoto, big hearts sparkling   
in her eyes as she watched her friends hugging and kissing. "I can`t   
wait until MY guy gets here!"  
  
* * *  
  
All alone in her pink colored room, the little girl who would one   
day be Usagi`s daughter was considering the many events which had   
influenced her existence ever since she`d returned from the 31st   
century to train under the guidance of her young mother, the powerful   
Sailor Moon.  
  
She thought over her sudden rise in power as she used her new attack,   
the flaming heart. How could a girl from the moon use fire based   
powers, the obvious domain of mars? And those strange feelings of   
guilt she`d been having over Shingo, Laurella and Rei... it made no   
sense! She`d never done anything to hurt ANY of them! And what about   
the dread knight, Ronmar? Why was he so adamant about protecting her,   
about watching over her sleep as she`d caught him doing when he   
thought she was asleep?  
  
This simply made no sense, her short life had nothing even closely   
related to those events... unless...  
  
"OF COURSE!!!" yelled Chibi-Usa, suddenly realizing what she`d   
overlooked all this time. "The answer is not in my present life...   
it`s in my SOUL, my PREVIOUS LIFE!!!"  
  
At this moment, the small lady felt a surge of raw power surged   
within her soul, flooding her tiny body with more power than she   
ever thought attainable without the help of the silver moon crystal.   
She did not transform, however, as her immature body wasn`t ready   
to receive this sort of energy yet.  
  
"Chibi-Usa, dear, what`s happening?" asked Ikuko who heard her   
granddaughter yell, and noticed the strange golden glow irradiating   
from the open door.  
  
"I`ve transcended, mommy Ikuko! I have soul power just like my mom!"   
she said with pride, her small body surrounded by a swirling golden   
aura.  
  
"That`s incredible, my little rabbit! But, aren`t you a little young   
to receive so much power?" asked Ikuko with her maternal concern.  
  
"That`s why I`m glad you came... please hold on to this for a   
while..." she asked Ikuko, handing her the moon prism given to her   
by Queen Neoserenity. "...and please explain Usagi exactly what   
happened here, and tell her I love her."  
  
"But why, sweetheart? Why not tell her yourself?"  
  
"Because I won`t be able to say anything for a while..." she said,   
as the swirling in her new aura increased tenfold.  
  
When the aura vanished, Ikuko couldn`t believe her eyes.  
  
"Oh my god..."  
  
* * *  
  
Amidst a bizarre collection of half-human half-animal statues,   
Ghangoroth couldn`t help it but let out a gasp of admiration before   
the masterful work of Thorelia, the sculptress from hell.  
  
"Admirable... simply admirable!" he whispered to himself.  
  
"So you like, I take it?" asked Thorelia who moved from behind one   
of the more massive statues to get into view of the psionic man.  
  
"I love it. Your creativity is so much more than I remembered it to   
be!" complimented the dark general Ghangoroth.  
  
"I`ve always been this creative, but it hasn`t always shown, that`s   
all." she replied.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because every general I ever worked for had his own ideas on what   
I should do. Jedite had no value for imagination, putting his faith   
in function over form, favoring pure effiency over sheer creativity.   
Kunzite was never very artistic, and came to me with his ideas well   
defined and planned in detail to the last square inch. Nephryte had   
his own ideas when it came to youma design, while Zoisite... well,   
let`s just say he had the most god awful tastes this side of   
creation." explained Thorelia.  
  
"I understand... and your creativity will be put to the test again.   
I need some more youma, with special requirements. Are you up to it,   
old friend?"  
  
"Just ask away. Chances are, I already made something fitting your   
needs!"  
  
"Wonderful... which of your fine creatures has the finest nose?"  
  
"That would be Lupina. She could sniff out a piece of perfume laced   
silk covered by a foot of molten lava!" boasted the sculptress,   
pointing to one of her statues, a hideously strong wolf woman.  
  
"Perfect. I`ll take her... and that one over there as well." said   
Ghangoroth, pointing to a catwoman youma.  
  
"Cathra... a very good choice. I`ll animate them right away."  
  
"Good. My plan can start that much sooner." said the psionic warrior,   
snickering.  
  
* * *  
  
Minako was fuming. She was frustrated, angered, enraged. How dare   
Setsuna scold her like this? The holier-than-thou bitch had no   
business telling her what to do. After all, hadn`t she been spending   
the better part of the eon guarding some stupid door nobody would   
ever even go through anyway? What did she know of the REAL world,   
the one where the whole population lived?  
  
The hot water running down her body and washing away the thin layer   
of soap covering her skin did nothing to soothe her. It usually did,   
but this time its effect was nonexistant.  
  
"I need to blow off some steam..." she thought, as she walked out of   
the gym shower and dried herself with a pink towel.  
  
The funloving Minako everybody knew and loved would have chased the   
blues away with shopping and a few games at the game center, but   
that sweet girl was no more. She was now a cold and vicious predator,   
the deadly Sailor V who terrorized the entire Tokyo underworld.  
  
Minako smiled. Time for some bone crunching action again, she thought   
while she got dressed.  
  
* * *  
  
Miss Haruna called the names of all present students one by one,   
making sure who was there or not that day. As she drew nearer and   
nearer to the bottom of the list, she was beginning the T`s when   
the school uniform Shingo blasted in the classroom and sat at his   
desk just in time for his teacher to call "Tsukino Shingo".  
  
"Right... here..." he answered as he panted to catch his breath. I   
gotta stop cutting it so close when I stop by the hospital to see   
Makoto, he thought.  
  
After the presence call, the day`s lesson began with geography.   
However dull it was, it wasn`t the actual lesson that made Shingo   
daydream. No, he had way too much on his mind to even pay any   
attention to his teacher who going on and on about some big european   
country or other.  
  
The senshi were falling like flies, he thought. First Minako who   
went wacko on them when she woke up, then Makoto who got shot by a   
thug and now Rei. Even though Makoto wasn`t a senshi yet, he started   
to refer to all the sailor soldiers as senshi, mostly because he   
thought that scout was a stupid name; it always reminded him of   
little girls in green suits selling cookies door to door.  
  
And what about that guy she loved, why did it feel so weird meeting   
him? It was almost like he felt some strange kind of power exchange   
taking place between them when they passed each other. Something   
felt terribly wrong, and he`d tell the girls at their next meeting.   
He couldn`t wait until after the school day was over, because he met   
Ami at the hospital that morning and she told him she`d have   
something incredibly important to tell them all, but she wanted to   
see all the gang at once since she wasn`t sure if she`d have the   
strength to say it again later.  
  
Ami had indeed seemed quite shaken, and whatever could make that   
cool headed genius freak out had to be of the gravest importance.  
  
"I wonder if Laurella arrived to class on time today?" he wondered,   
looking out the window, trying to spot in which of the other windows   
facing him she might be right now...  
  
* * *  
  
In the vast parking lot facing the hospital where Dr Mizuno was   
taking active care of Makoto and Rei, many visitors were coming and   
going, taking advantage of the visiting hours to see their sick loved   
ones and their wounded friends. Out of this steady movement of people,   
two strange women just stood there, looking lost. To the untrained   
eye, they might have seemed to be looking for the spot where they   
parked their car, but a more accurate observation revealed that they  
had come in this place walking, and had not even entered the hospital   
at all.  
  
"I can smell it, he really was here!" said the first woman. She was   
very tall, had very large and disproportionate muscles and her   
squarish face had barely the minimum requirements to be considered   
feminine at all. She had hair that was short and very stiff, one   
could guess it was fur. Her actions were also quite odd, as she   
sniffed the air around her like a bloodhound on the chase.  
  
"My smelling is very sharp too, and all I smell here is gasoline   
and bad aftershave from that fat guy over there." said the other   
woman, with a sweet purring voice. This one, unlike her companion,   
was totally feminine with a slim and slender figure, long and agile   
arms and legs, eyes that could seduce any man caught in their glow   
and she moved with graceful movements that had fluidity beyond human   
ability.  
  
"It`s not a physical smell I`m going for, Cathra. I`m sniffing out   
an energy trace... it came through here, it`s so pure and raw, it   
stands out like a bonfire in the middle of a starless night!" said   
the hulking youma.  
  
"So you can follow his track, then, Lupina?"  
  
"Good thing too... can you imagine what Ghangoroth would do to us if   
we failed?" asked Lupina, growling like a wolf.  
  
"I`d rather think what he will do to me when we succeed!" said the   
catlike youma, purring like a kitten.  
  
"Do you only have sex on the brain, girl?" wondered the musclebound   
youma.  
  
"Is there anything else worth thinking about?" playfully answered   
Cathra.  
  
"You`re hopeless. Come, let`s go while this track is fresh."  
  
* * *  
  
In Rei`s room, the young fire priestess was sleeping deeply from the   
massive dose of strong tranquilizers given to her by doctor Mizuno.   
She was being fed intravenously a rich nutritive serum, and was   
being given the best treatments modern medicine could muster.  
  
For all the care she received, however, Akane knew that she couldn`t   
do much to help Rei from a psychological standpoint. Rei would have   
to come to terms with losing her child, and that would surely be an   
excrutiatingly painful process for her.  
  
"I`d like to help you, darling, but there`s only so much I can do..."   
she whispered.  
  
An acrid smell offended her nose at that moment. She wondered where   
such a terrible smell could come from when she saw an opaque cloud   
of dark smoke moving about the room; it slowly condensed into a   
humanoid form, taking solid consistence and turning into a tall man   
dressed all in dark black clothes. He also wore black shades to   
protect his eyes from daylight. Sitting slowly in a chair with great   
care, he held on to his chest, his face twisted from terrible pain.  
  
"You... are you that knight who saved Rei Sailor Mars from that crab   
creature last night?" asked Akane who recognized his smoke-morphing   
ability.  
  
"Yeah, I`m Ronmar... but please call me Mitchell Dreadborne when I`m   
out of battle gear." said Ronmar, holding his wounded chest with   
both arms.  
  
"I saw you getting blasted by Gingitsune... you must have broken   
ribs, let me tend that for you..." offered Akane.  
  
"No, that won`t be necessary... I heal myself by melding with the   
night. I was much worse off than you see me right now when that   
silver bastard got me. But I heal fast in darkness."  
  
"Why did you come here in this condition?" asked the doctor.  
  
"Why else? To help Rei."  
  
"There`s nothing anyone can do right now."  
  
"Bear in mind I`m still a knightmare... I can sneak my presence in   
her dreams, although it`ll be the first time I do it for a purpose   
that`s not selfish or evil..."  
  
"You can do that?"  
  
"Sure can. I may not be able to move much now, but I don`t even need   
to lift a finger to do this little trick." explained the dread knight.  
  
Concentrating all his energies on the mind of the sleeping Rei,   
Ronmar slowly began to enter the surface of her unconscious mind and   
made his way to the place where dreams occured. He found none there,   
but that mattered little. All he had to do was wait a little until a   
dream would form. It was inevitable as the tides of the sea, one just   
had to be patient enough. A few months ago, the mighty Sailor Moon   
had taught him a harsh lesson in patience, destroying his previous  
body after he went ahead with an ill-conceived vengence plan.  
  
Floating in the darkness of his reincarnated daughter`s mind, the   
dread knight was ready to wait as long as it took. Nothing was too   
much to ask of him if it could help make up for the horrible fate   
she knew in her last life.  
  
In the meantime, this darkness around him would help him heal his   
battle injuries.  
  
* * *  
  
With the cold weather patterns having snapped back from the immense   
heat dumped in the Tokyo sky by Sailor Mars` infernal phoenix fire   
attack, frozen winds were now blowing in full force again, cutting   
the skin of whoever was outside with its blistering freeze.  
  
Cathra hated every second of it, but her loyalty to Aebonite forbade   
her to stay off her given mission, even though it meant remaining   
with Lupina, the biggest killjoy this side of creation.  
  
"This is boring. I don`t even get how you can follow this trail you   
keep babbling about!" she complained, fixing the hair around her ear   
with her forearm the same way a cat would.  
  
"The trail is really there! The energy is so raw, so primal, it calls   
to me, beckons me, taunts me to find its source!" said the beastlike   
female monster. Raising her gaze from the sidewalk, she looked   
straight ahead of her towards the source of the residual energy trail   
she`d been following for a long time. "There!"  
  
Cathra looked forward where Lupina was pointing. There she saw the   
juuban high school.  
  
"Let`s get to work." said Cathra. Lupina agreed.  
  
* * *  
  
"So can anyone tell me the answer to this algebra problem?" asked   
Miss Haruna, looking for a student to give her the solution to the   
quadratic equation on the blackboard. This was one of the more   
difficult problems she had asked so far, and everybody dreaded   
having to resolve it, so she was forced to "volunteer" a student   
of her own choosing.  
  
Staring at the many teenagers in uniform who did their best to avoid   
making eye contact, the veteran teacher made her choice on her   
favorite kind of victim: the student who`s not paying attention.  
  
"Would you care to give us an answer, mister Tsukino?" she asked.  
  
Snapping out of his daze, Shingo realized he`d been staring blankly   
out the window for over fifteen minutes now and had no idea what he   
was supposed to say.  
  
"I... err... could you repeat the question, please?" he asked, using   
a stalling technique his big sister had taught him for just such an   
occasion.  
  
"I was asking you to resolve the quadratic equation on the board, if   
you please, and take care to explain in detail the way you..." said   
Haruna, her question interrupted by the leaping shadow in the window   
that violently entered the classroom by crashing its way through the   
concrete wall, sending a shower of smashed pieces onto the cowering   
class, raising a dust cloud so thick that it masked everything around   
the monstrous figure. The seven feet tall lupine youma let out a   
horrinle howl and screamed its challenge to all those unfortunate   
enough to be there.  
  
"Where is the Emerald Knight??? Bring him to me or die where you   
stand!!!"  
  
Taking advantage of the choking dust cloud arisen from the concrete   
explosion, Shingo charged his hand with a pulsing ball of emerald   
green Technum energy. Striking the floor with his fist, he sent a   
rippling wave of raw power towards Lupina who was thrown back two   
floors down to the high school`s courtyard as the wave of energy   
detonated at her feet.  
  
"Everybody out!" screamed Shingo. Stricken with fear, the panicked   
classroom emptied itself of all students who ran down the stairs   
towards the nearest emergency exit.  
  
Shingo was the only one who didn`t go along with the crowd, running   
the other way towards the gaping hole in the wall and jumping outside   
as he began his transformation. As he landed in the courtyard, he   
was ready to fight as the Emerald Knight.  
  
"Finally we meet, hero, now we must fight!" said Lupina, baring her   
drooling fangs.  
  
"You disrupted class, you inconsiderate creature! You better have a   
valid reason AND a hall pass signed by the school director!!!" said   
the knight.  
  
"Big talk from a man in a tin can suit." said the wolf woman, leaping   
forward in a frenzied charge. The strenght of her impact knocked the   
sword out of his hand, and he brutally landed on his back crushed   
under the heavy youma. Having transformed into her full beast form,   
Lupina now had more muscle mass than any human alive, which was more   
than sufficient to keep the young warrior at a blaring disadvantage.   
  
"Your blood will be mine!!!" growled the monster, using all her   
strength to try and rip his throat apart, the Emerald Knight`s   
rapidly weakening arms being the only thing standing between the   
disproportionate jaws of the lupine creature and his soft neck.  
  
"Laurella, where are you?" he wondered, his mind going into a   
panicked rush.  
  
As if on cue, a sparkling beam made of a thousand multicolored   
specks of light struck the beast, throwing her off the knight who   
jumped back on his feet and picked up his green sword.  
  
"Having fun without me, Kit?" asked Sailor Jendra.  
  
"What took you so long, love?"  
  
"I had to get away from class discreetly, didn`t I? As soon as the   
panic started, it wasn`t too hard to do." she explained, giving her   
boyfriend a wink. "Now let`s finish this! PRISMATIC SEVEN..." started   
Jendra, her special attack stopped by Cathra who trapped her ankles   
with a skillful whip slash and pulled her down onto the snow covered   
ground.  
  
"Oh no you don`t!" said the seductive youma who then proceeded to   
transform as well into her full beast form. A layer of short black   
fur covered every inch of her body while her eyes and ears took   
feline aspects as well. She also grew sharp claws like those of the   
wolf youma, although she prefered using her whip in combat.  
  
"JENDRA SPECTRUM WHIPLASH!!!" screamed Laurella, forming a pair of   
color shifting tentacles that extended forward and gained in speed   
as its color moved from red all the way to ultraviolet when it   
struck Cathra in the head and stomach.  
  
Emerald Knight rushed Lupina, trying to slash her repeatedly. He   
grazed her slightly on the second swordslash, but the youma`s   
inhuman speed kept her from receiving any serious harm.  
  
"Is this the best you can do, little man? Come on, challenge me!" she   
said, mocking him and licking the trickle of blood coming from her   
forearm.  
  
"Take THIS then!" responded the young warrior, focusing all his   
Technum energy into his blade and striking forward with all his   
might at the taunting beast. In his rage, he concentrated EVERYTHING   
he had into this one single blow.  
  
Lupina swiftly stepped sideways and he missed. Raising her knee in a   
quick jerk, she struck his stomach as he rushed passed her,   
sprawling him down. Through his metallic armor, he could fell the   
cold sting of winter snow seeping inside the plating joints.  
  
"You lose, Emerald boy." said Lupina and took a small piece of   
glowing crystal from her belt and tossed it on the knight`s armor   
where it stuck instantly, dumping a massive amount of electrical   
current in his body. Letting out a loud shriek of pain, he collapsed   
immediately.  
  
"KIT!!!" screamed Laurella who lost sight of Cathra for a brief   
instant. She received a violent slash in the back as a reminder that   
in combat, there is no room for emotion. Falling down in the snow as   
well, Jendra could feel her back ripping itself out from the whip   
slash whose special characteristic it was to stimulate the pain   
receptors of the human body.  
  
Pointing towards a point near the slumped body of the armored   
warrior, Cathra formed a black portal leading back to the youma`s   
headquarters. Lupina grabbed the fallen warrior and lifted as though   
he were no more than a sack of potatoes.  
  
"Coming, sister?" asked Lupina, looking back to Cathra.  
  
"Be there in a second, sis." she replied.  
  
Laurella could do nothing as she saw her lover being helplessly   
dragged away by the wolflike monster into the dark gate where they   
both disappeared. She then felt a clawed hand pick her up by the   
neck and pulling her without any regards to her well being.  
  
"I`ll enjoy the time I`ll be spending with your boyfriend..."   
whispered Cathra in Jendra`s ear. She then gave her a very tender   
kiss against her will, mocking her even further. "I hope that the   
Emerald Knight kisses as good as you do... among other things!!!"   
she added. Dropping her limp body back into the snow, Cathra laughed   
her head off and walked into the black portal that vanished   
afterwards.  
  
Painfully getting back up, Sailor Jendra stared blankly at the empty   
spot where her lover had just been abducted from. Her head spun and   
her temples throbbed, as the realization that he was really gone   
began to sink in. Shock lead to denial, then to a wild of anger as   
she screamed in total abandonment to hatred like she never knew   
existed inside her being.  
  
Hordes of teen students who`d spied on the battle from a distance   
started to walk in hesitantly, unsure wether they should be there   
or not. As Sailor Jendra collapsed on her knees and sobbed without   
any regards as to who was watching her, a few girls decided to step   
forward and console her. A couple of undying Sailor Jendra fans knelt   
down besides her, and hugged her as they joined into her sadness.   
They admired Emerald Knight as well, and were crushed to know that   
he`d been captured by his enemies. The warrior in shining green armor   
had come to represent an ideal of the perfect boyfriend for many of   
them, and to Laurella he was just that.  
  
And now he was gone.  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
  
Because her classes had finished much earlier than usual, Usagi had   
come back home directly, and she brought home her classmate and   
senshi sister Robin. The two of them had spent the whole way there   
discussing the various merits of the mascara brands they each used.   
All the darkness their lives had confronted them with required some   
release, and meaningless chitchat often did the trick for the senshi   
of the moon and saturn.  
  
"Hiya mom, I`m home! And I brought a friend along!" said Usagi as   
she and her friends took off their heavy wintercoats and boot.  
  
"A... friend?" nervously asked Ikuko until she saw Robin. She then   
felt relieved. "Oh, it`s you Robin."  
  
"I`ve had warmer welcomes from the Prime, and he was trying to make   
me his mindless puppet." replied sharply Robin with sarcasm that   
could pierce through steel.  
  
"I`m sorry dear, it`s just... Chibi-Usa, she..."  
  
It then struck Usagi that her little spore of a daughter-to-be wasn`t   
there to bug her, even though she had no school that day. She was   
ALWAYS there to make fun of her every chance she got.  
  
"Chibi-Usa, what happened to her? Where is she?!?" asked Usagi in   
a panic.  
  
"She`s in her room, but..." tried to say the distraught Ikuko, but   
her daughter was already racing up the stairs followed by friend.  
  
"CHIBI-USA!!!" screamed Usagi, blasting her way into the pink shaded   
room. She was stunned by what she saw.  
  
"Yo, Usagi, wait up!" urged Robin who couldn`t believe her own eyes.  
  
"Oh god..." whispered Usagi.  
  
"What... is that?" asked Robin.  
  
The entire bedroom was stuck in a thick weblike arrangement of an   
unidentifiable hardened matter that held three feet above the air a   
thick protective coccoon in which rested the curled up Chibi-Usa.  
  
"This is her own doing." said Ikuko, joining Usagi and Robin into   
Chibi-Usa`s room. "She has attained her soul power, but her body was   
too immature to contain such power. She has entered this coccoon so   
she can mature into the body that she needs to join the ranks of the   
senshi."  
  
Usagi caressed the hard shell that encased her little angel, and a   
tear formed in her eye.  
  
"I`ll be waiting for you when you come out, sweetheart. I`ll protect   
you until that moment comes, I promise.  
  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  



	30. Picking Up The Pieces

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
PROLOGUE...  
  
  
"Try hard to remember, sweetheart." said Doctor Ogawa to her young   
teenage patient. She`d been searching for an explanation as to how   
her dangerous charge Coran Demsy had managed his escape, and the   
two police officers who assisted her in getting information from the   
young schizophrenic girl were pretty much lost in her ramblings,   
mostly because she was convinced she was alice lost in Wonderland.   
"Have you seen how the mad hatter left wonderland?"  
  
She used the term "mad hatter" because it had become clear after a   
very long discussion that she saw the dangerously insane Psyche as   
such. She also saw her doctor and the two police officers in dark   
trenchcoats as the white queen and two black knights of chess.  
  
"I remember seeing him leaving the tea party." she said. "I wished   
him a happy unbirthday, but he didn`t feel like celebrating that day.   
He left in a real hurry, and he overpowered the three of spades.   
After taking his weapon, he took out the five and six of clubs." she   
explained.  
  
That makes some sense, the doctor thought, he did steal a firearm   
from a security guard before shooting two other guards...  
  
"He was really freaked out, you know..." said the young blonde girl   
who hugged tightly a stuffed toy shaped as a white rabbit.  
  
"Do you know why?" wondered the doctor.  
  
She nodded. "The grim reaper was after him." she said.  
  
"Okay, Alice, that will be all. Thank you, sweetie." said the doctor   
who returned to the police officers to tell them what little   
information she could get from the deranged sixteen years old.  
  
She spoke with them calmly, trying to interpret the Lewis Caroll   
tainted views of her patient, but there was one grave detail she   
overlooked.  
  
"Alice in Wonderland" contained no such thing as the grim reaper...  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 30  
  
PICKING UP THE PIECES  
  
  
The darkness shrouding the mind of the Tsukino Shingo, the mighty   
Emerald Knight, slowly began to fade away. He awoke painfully,   
clutching his chest that was still badly hurting from the electric   
discharge that came from Lupina`s crystal weapon. Wrestling with his   
hurting head, he pieced back together the events that preceeded his   
bout of unconsciousness.  
  
His class had been the victim of a youma attack, one who knew that   
the Emerald Knight was there. He managed to take advantage of the   
confusion to push back the monster, transform, and fight it as best   
he could, which wasn`t enough at the time. He had tried to pool all   
his energy into a single dramatic blow, only to hideously miss his   
target and be knocked out by that horrible blast of electricity that   
traveled all the way through his metallic armor with great ease.  
  
Now his mind was sharp again and his eyes opened, but the total   
darkness around him prevented him from seeing anything.  
  
"I can`t be dead, I hurt too much." he thought out loud.  
  
"Quite correct, although in a few moments you will wish you were."   
said a deep voice filled with the arrogance of one used to getting   
all he wants.  
  
"Who said that?!?" replied Shingo, who realized as he got up that   
his armor was gone; he tried to reform it, but his powers seemed   
shortcircuited somehow.  
  
"Don`t bother trying to create that green shell of yours, my aebonite   
crystals are draining you of any of your precious Technum strenght."   
taunted the voice.  
  
"Show yourself!"  
  
Powerful lights turned themselves on, and Shingo almost wished that   
he hadn`t asked for them to show him what he saw. He was standing   
inside a dark cavernlike room, whose dark walls and ceiling seemed   
to be absorbing any light that might come in contact with them. In   
front of him, standing prominently in the middle of the room, was a   
gigantic statue of the most horrific thing he`d ever seen, a   
shapeless creature whose only recognizable features were a face   
twisted by an unspeakable evil that flowed from within. At the base   
of this statue was carved out a throne where a tall, slender man sat   
proudly, his dark blue hair tied in a long ponytail that fell freely   
along his chest. He wore a uniform whose origin he could only guess   
at, adorned with many gemstones that were a perfect match for the   
single sample of aebonite mineral captured by Sailor Mercury before   
her battle with the youma Ganeshya.  
  
By his sides stood three menacing figures: a reptilian humanoid being   
wearing a uniform slightly less intricate than the man on the throne,   
a caped man whose head was engulfed in permanent fire and a hooded   
woman whose face Shingo could have sworn was slowly melting away.  
  
All around the very large room, a small crowd formed itself,   
constituted of many creatures whose forms were better left hidden   
in the darkness in which they stood.  
  
"This is sooooo not good..." thought Shingo, his face starting to   
be covered in nervous sweat. It was then he noticed that the clothes   
he wore were not the school uniform he had put on for class, but a   
strange looking uniform made out of black leather. He also had a   
gemlike collar wrapped around his neck, making his swallowing motion   
very unpleasant.  
  
"Just you wait a few moments, Emerald Knight. You will be begging us   
to make things unpleasant again..." said the man with the flaming   
head.  
  
Hey, had this guy just read his mind? This was simply too horrible   
to accept... that meant that he could... no, musn`t think that...   
that my sister is... is... thought Shingo, fighting his own   
undisciplined mind not to reveal any of the sensitive information   
it contained.  
  
"Yes, I can read minds, young one, so would you mind just remembering   
who Sailor Moon is, for a few seconds?" said Ghangoroth, scanning   
Shingo`s mind. The young boy grabbed his head with both hands,   
fighting off the images that popped in his mind of Sailor Moon, who   
was really his sister Usagi...  
  
"So, what does he know?" asked Aebonite to his psionic general.  
  
"Not much, I`m afraid." he replied. "He fights side by side the girl   
warriors, but they don`t trust him with their identities, not even   
Sailor Jendra whom he`s involved with." said the man with great   
mental powers.  
  
For just a second, Shingo wasn`t sure what was going on- had he   
really managed to suppress his own thoughts? He could have sworn   
that the image of Usagi had appeared in his mind, along with those   
of the other senshi...  
  
"Do with him as you want, now, the rest of his memories is quite   
expendable." concluded Ghangoroth.  
  
Looking at the wicked smile drawing on Aebonite`s face, Shingo felt   
his stomach twistng with fear, like a black cloud of sticky oil on   
his skin that was rapidly spreading through his legs and chest. What   
was he planning to do?  
  
The answer came quickly as the ruler of the dark empire snapped his   
fingers and made a small black sphere appear out of thin air.  
  
"This jewelry I gave you on your arrival among us is not only   
beautiful, it`s also functional." said the blue haired megalomaniac.  
  
Grabbing the collar with both hands, it dawned on Shingo that   
without his powers, he could do nothing to remove the gemstone   
artifact around his neck or even defend himself from his enemies.  
All he could do was wait for their move.  
  
"Tell me, have you ever felt the glory of pure darkness coursing   
through your veins?" asked Aebonite, grazing the sphere`s surface   
with his hand. In response, a charge of black power was sent right   
through the collar strapped on Shingo`s neck. His knees buckled as   
he let out a loud scream of pain.  
  
"Painful enough for you?" he asked mockingly.  
  
"Bite me." whispered Shingo. He received a second, stronger jolt in   
response to his defiant attitude, and this time he fell face down   
on the cold stone floor.  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto was really beginning to get the hang of her wheelchair,   
mostly because she already had the superior upper body strenght   
required to quickly move around. Right now, she was reaping the   
rewards of learning to operate the wheelchair adapted elevator,   
going to the cafeteria all by herself and enjoying her lunch. It   
was surprisingly good, considering the large amounts of food   
prepared there every day.  
  
As she picked up her dessert spoon to attack her bowl of strawberry   
pudding, she accidentaly knocked her coffee cup off the table with   
her elbow. While she looked at it fall down, it seemed to slow down   
gradually, a scream of horrendous pain filling her mind. It was the   
voice of Shingo that echoed in her head, and it was the most gut  
wrenching thing she had ever heard. When the cup hit the floor and   
smashed itself, a strange image appeared in her mind`s eye.   
  
She was standing in a dark room, an evil place filled with wicked   
beings who laughed at a man lying on the floor. She recognized   
Usagi`s young brother who writhed in horrid pain, dark energies   
flooding his body from a black collar strapped around his neck.  
  
"Not so valiant now, are we?" asked the man besides her, a slender   
figure wearing a variant of the dark kingdom uniform and cape.   
Sitting on a menacing throne, he appeared to be in control of   
Shingo`s slow torture using a black sphere floating at his eye   
level.  
  
"I`ll never give up..." he said, refusing to surrender.  
  
"Of course not. Nor would I want you to." said Aebonite, grazing the   
black crystal again. The dark energies invading the Emerald Knight`s   
body were increasing exponentially with each jolt.  
  
The scream ripped out of his throat twisted Makoto`s heart- she tried   
to jump Aebonite and take away the accursed crystal from his hands,   
but she couldn`t move. It was only a vision, so she was helpless as   
her friend was.  
  
"If you gave me your servitude, what would stop you from taking it   
back later?" asked Aebonite, sending another blast of raw power   
through the collar. This one was so strong that Shingo was unable   
to scream, twisting in agonizing spasms and resisting the onslaught   
as best he could.  
  
"But what I take away from you, I`ll never give back!!!" concluded   
Aebonite, grabbing the sphere in the palm of his hand and sending an   
uniterrupted shower of pure evil lightning through the heroic but   
defenseless young man. His final yell of resistance resounded in   
Makoto`s mind as both of them fainted.  
  
* * *  
  
"Here you go, sweetheart." said Ikuko as she brought some food to her   
daughter Usagi. She hadn`t eaten anything since she`d gotten back   
from class, which was very unusual for her. Then again, having her   
own daughter from the future wrap herself into an intricate coccoon   
of her own creation could hardly constitute something normal.  
  
"Thanks mom." said Usagi.  
  
"You`re too kind, miss Tsukino." said Robin as she dug in the plate   
of gingerbread as well. Ever since she`d tasted this spicy treat,   
she couldn`t get enough of it.  
  
"Please, Robin, call me Ikuko. You`re a warrior of destiny and I`m   
just a plain housewife." asked Usagi`s mother, embarassed by such   
formality from her daughter`s friend.  
  
"There`s nothing plain about you, Ikuko. Anyone who could raise such   
a caring and loyal girl like Usagi is nothing short of   
extraordinary." complimented Robin.  
  
"She`s right mom, you`re the best mother a girl could want!" agreed   
Usagi.  
  
"I think you will be an extraordinary mother yourself, Usagi, judging   
by our small lady`s honor and courage in front of danger..." she   
said. All eyes turned towards the coccoon, whose shape suggested the   
small body of a seven years old girl curled up in a foetal position.  
  
"I just hope she knows what she`s doing this time, though..." added   
Usagi.  
  
At that moment, Usagi and Robin`s communicators both ringed at the   
same time. The terrible news of Shingo`s kidnapping was about to hit   
them hard, Ikuko especially.  
  
* * *  
  
"I think she`s coming around..." said a nurse as she saw Makoto`s   
eyes flutter and open slowly.  
  
"You scared us there, young lady, especially with that scream you let   
out before hitting the floor." said doctor Mizuno. "You should take   
it easy for a while, your efforts to overcome your condition are   
starting to take a toll on your health."  
  
"Huh... yeah, I should." said Makoto who remembered the vision of   
Shingo`s torture with vivid detail. She didn`t know how she saw this,   
but she knew for sure that something terrible had happened to her   
friend`s brother.  
  
"We`ll let you rest for now, but I want you to promise you`ll take   
better care of yourself now." ordered Akane.  
  
"Okay, I promise." said Makoto who waited until everybody was gone   
to retrieve her golden pen to try and transform again into Sailor   
Jupiter. She feared the result as she had tried to transform several   
times already, and failed with each one.  
  
"JUPITER STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
Nothing.  
  
"JUPITER STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
Nothing still.  
  
"DAMN YOU!!! TRANSFORM ME, JUPITER STAR POWER MAKEUP!!!"  
  
The inert artifact simply refused to yield its power to Makoto who   
remained her ordinary self. She threw the useless object to the   
ground out of frustration and cried in her hands. She wanted to help   
the others... Rei, Laurella, Shingo... they all needed her more than   
ever and her powers were gone, just like her ability to walk. If it   
wasn`t for her newfound boyfriend, she`d hardly have any reason to   
go on...  
  
* * *  
  
Flying across the empty space between the second story of a giant   
pay parking and the hard surface of the ground below, the screaming   
man who`d become known to the japanese crime syndicates as "the   
eraser" for his talent in disposing of tainted money in the most   
creative ways was scared out of his mind. Landing brutally, he   
clearly felt his right arm and several rib bones shatter on impact.  
  
And where criminals got their bones crushed, Sailor V couldn`t be   
far away.  
  
"That concludes our first freefall lesson. Next time maybe you`ll   
remember to pack a parachute before you jump." mocked Sailor V,   
looking down from the second floor where she`d thrown him down from.   
"Oh yeah, I forgot... I`m the one who tossed you out into the open!"  
  
With a long leap and a double flip, she nimbly landed on her feet   
with catlike agility next to the seriously injured man.  
  
"Please, Sailor V, spare me, I`m just a money launderer!" begged the   
wanted criminal, terror stricken and twisting in pain from his   
multiple fractures.  
  
"It`s your talent that makes crime appealing. If the scum of this   
world couldn`t turn a profit, they`d be forced to do something legal   
for a change." said Sailor V, whose hair and fuku were now almost   
totally blackened. "That`s why you must perish."  
  
The man screamed even louder as he saw the insane vigilante point   
her index to his head, the tip of her finger charging itself with   
golden energy.  
  
"Die, scum... SOUL... CRESCENT... SMA..."  
  
Before she could complete the word SMASHER, a flash of rational   
thought snuck into her vile vindictive mind. Pointing away from her   
victim, the blast shot away and dissipated harmlessly into the air.   
Conscious that she had been mere seconds away from killing a man in   
cold blood, she felt sick with herself and fled.  
  
Interestingly enough, the eraser thought he`d been given a second   
chance by Sailor V and never took part in any other illegal   
activities from that point on.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Jendra finally stopped running when she ran out of strength,   
collapsing into a small alley and sobbing for her lost boyfriend.   
He`d been lured into an obvious trap and fell right in it. She had   
tried to help him out, but the catwoman had seen to it that she   
couldn`t.  
  
"Shingo, where have they taken you? Why can`t I feel you anywhere???"   
she thought. Ever since they had united themselves physically to   
express their love to its fullest, they`d been able to feel each   
other`s presence for miles away, although they rarely ever separated   
over such long distances. If she couldn`t sense him now, he was   
either over a hundred miles away... or dead.  
  
"No, I refuse to believe that!" she thought. She got up and resumed   
walking very slowly, her stiff legs riddled with muscle cramps.   
"Your love will guide my steps, Shingo, as soon as I get close   
enough, I`ll feel your presence."  
  
She kept on walking, her mind as clouded and her movements as   
hesitant as the days of hell when she suffered from hard drug   
withdrawal. She hadn`t touched those toxic substances in almost a   
year now, but her mental and physical distress were making her look   
exactly like she was back then.  
  
"Sailor Jendra!!!" screamed a young teenage girl from Laurella`s   
class. She`d been the biggest Sailor Jendra fan ever since she`d   
ever shown up.  
  
"Go back to school, Mitsuko." snapped the exhausted Jendra, not   
realizing that she`d just call her friend by her name. The girl   
wondered how she knew, but quickly forgot about that when she saw   
how messed up Jendra was.  
  
"You`re in no shape to go on!" she argued.  
  
"I have to help Emerald Knight! He`s counting on me, he`s..."  
  
"He`s no better off if you kill yourself trying to save him!"  
  
"Leave me alone, girl." said Jendra between two tears. "You can`t   
help me now."  
  
"Maybe not me, but I found some people who can." whispered Mitsuko.   
"OVER HERE!!!" she yelled in direction of the main street. Two   
silhouettes came from there, which Jendra recognized as Sailor Moon   
and Sailor Saturn.  
  
"I met them by random chance while they were looking for you." she   
said to Laurella.  
  
"I... I barely even remember calling them after the fight..." she   
said, confused.  
  
"You need their help right now. You can`t do a thing for Emerald   
Knight in your current state." said Mitsuko. "Let your friends help   
you, Endymion is scoping the place right now."  
  
Watching silently as the two senshi helped Jendra walk away, Mitsuko   
felt good that she was able to help her rolemodel... who would in   
turn help out Emerald Knight, whom she had the biggest crush on. She   
knew she would probably never even meet him, but hey, a girl can   
dream.  
  
"Hey, Mitsuko..."  
  
"Yes, Sailor Moon?"  
  
"Well done. We couldn`t have found her without you."  
  
Mitsuko was happy to hear that.  
  
* * *  
  
Picking up the homework of his friend Tsukino Shingo who had suddenly   
"come up with a nasty pneumonia", Mamoru checked out the courtyard   
where the battle had occured. It hadn`t been too difficult to find   
out the exact location, as every student there was talking about it.   
Witnessing Sailor Jendra in action and Emerald Knight`s disappearance   
had made enough of an impression on them that they even forgot about   
the phoenix that had struck down Gingitsune- for a while at least.  
  
"That`s the place, sir. You can still see the melted hole in the snow   
where the portal thing opened." said a young student proud of telling   
Mamoru what he`d seen. "I saw it all, Emerald Knight is SO cool...   
much cooler than that Tuxedo Kamen guy, I mean, what`s up with that   
old fashioned costume?!"  
  
About time I changed my fighter persona, thought Mamoru.  
  
"Thanks, I heard of what happened. I was curious to see the place   
myself since I was coming here anyway." said Mamoru, showing the   
math and kanji homework he was supposed to bring to his girlfriend`s   
brother.  
  
"My pleasure sir, it`s become the school`s main attraction." said the   
teenager as he went back inside for the last afternoon class that   
would soon start. The courtyard emptied itself rapidly after the bell   
rang, leaving the handsome hero alone with his thoughts. Good, he   
could better concentrate if he was alone.  
  
opening his mind to the surrounding impressions, he tried to remember   
the familiar feeling of his precious Usagi. Starting there, he could   
get a better idea of what Shingo`s presence felt like and take it   
from there.  
  
After a while, he began to feel something. It reminded him of Sailor   
Moon, but it was more brute in its form, more raw in its energetic   
pattern. "It has to be him." He followed the impression to its source   
and discovered something interesting; stuck in the snow where it had   
been trampled by several people, he found a small opaque piece of   
crystal which still had a small static charge, an obvious residue to   
the electrical discharge Shingo was given by the wolf monster he was   
described by many witnesses.  
  
Even after a very short contact with the Emerald Knight`s Technum   
based armor, the small piece of conductor crystal had managed to   
carry an impression of his energy pattern. Shingo had become so very   
powerful in so little time... god only knew how powerful he could   
get in the future, and what the dark empire was planning to do with   
those powers of his... whatever the answer, Mamoru had a very bad   
feeling that he wouldn`t care to find out.  
  
He pocketed the crystal and wondered why he hadn`t been able to reach   
Mercury yet... he really could use her intelligence and expertise in   
those matters right now.  
  
* * *  
  
"You wanted to see me, Lord Aebonite?" asked Ghangoroth as he entered   
the personal quarters of his ruler.  
  
"Yes, come in." he said, picking up a bottle of chilled white wine on   
the table of his living room and filling two delicately crafted   
crystal glasses. "I wanted to give you my heartfelt congratulations   
on the great success of your personal initiative. Getting this   
walking energy generator in our hands will greatly increase our   
collection rate. We`ll have enough power to restore our dark empire   
in no time, once the final master pieces of aebonite mineral are in   
place." said Aebonite as he handed the psionic man a glass.  
  
"Thank you. This was one of my better ideas, I must say. It came to   
me in a flash of inspiration a few days ago." said Ghangoroth,   
unhooking the gold button that held his light blue cape on his   
shoulders and removing the soft cloth garnment so he could sit down   
on one of the room`s many comfortable couches. Aebonite eyed the   
gold button and smiled as he finally remembered where he`d seen that   
strange sign that adorned it.  
  
"The greek letter PSI, I believe. How appropriate." he remarked.  
  
"For all of their flaws, humans have many things we can learn from."   
replied Ghangoroth.  
  
"You are in good spirits of late, my old friend. I never seen you   
this uplifted before. You`ve always been the gloomy curmudgeon   
type..."  
  
"Things change. I`ve learned to accept that the past can`t be   
changed, and that the present can give you other reasons to enjoy   
life."  
  
"Amen to that... to living in the here and now!" toasted Aebonite.   
The two men clinked their glasses and drank a long sip of the   
delicious wine. Ghangoroth heard the thoughts of his master and was   
intrigued of his plans.  
  
"You seem preoccupied by something... an heirloom of yours, I   
believe." said the psionic warrior as the flames engulfing his head   
danced in a spiral of red and orange shades.  
  
"Correct. Follow me, I`ll show you." said Aebonite, gesturing him to   
his bedroom where he showed him a large glass display case containing   
a fearsome armor dark green in color with stripes of many varied hues   
of green. It was a field plate of exceptional quality that had been   
enhanced in its terror by the strategic addition of small spikes on   
the gauntlets, shoulders, calves and helmet.  
  
"Is that made of malachite?" asked Ghangoroth.  
  
"Quite correct. The purest malachite crafted in the forges of the   
dark kingdom by my father Kunzite himself. Father gave it to me   
shortly before he and Zoisite died fighting off Sailor Moon, but   
I`ve never worn it. I despise body armor, I find it restrictive and   
suffocating."  
  
"But our guest enjoys wearing armor, doesn`t he?"  
  
"Very much so. And seeing how the shining emerald plate has got to   
go..." suggested Aebonite, leaving his general to read the rest of   
his sentence directly out of his mind.  
  
Both of them agreed that this was indeed a very good plan.  
  
* * *  
  
The darkness he floated in had been very good to his wounded chest,   
mending his broken ribs sufficiently so that he may keep solid form   
and move around once he`d leave Rei`s subconscious mind. Ronmar had   
waited there for long hours, leaving his body seemingly asleep on a   
chair next to Rei`s bed. Doctor Mizuno had helped him out, giving   
him permission to "stand watch over her sleep" without being   
disturbed by the nurses.  
  
Finally, what he had waited for was happening: her shapeless   
dreamscape was starting to take form, turning into a vision of   
things unreal brought on by night.  
  
What he saw forming was a truly frightening sight; a dry wasteland   
of cracked soil, a few rare and shriveled trees, greyish skies devoid   
of any sunlight and ruins of what looked like a temple of some sort.  
  
"Poor girl. She must be devastated to be spending her sleep in this   
dead world." he thought.  
  
Crackling vultures above his head brought his attention to the many   
rotting carcasses lying about in several mounds that had been heaped   
up in total disregard to the dead. Some of these bodies were human,   
some were animal and much more were beyond anything Ronmar had ever   
seen in any of the universes he visited.  
  
It saddened the dread knight to know that this was Rei`s dreamscape,   
a reflection of her current emotional state. Even though his own   
mindscape was probably very close to this wasteland image, Rei was   
a sweet girl who didn`t deserve this.   
  
"She`s following the same path I once took... if I don`t stop her,   
she wil surely end up being consumed by her growing darkness..." he   
thought.  
  
He walked on for a while, putting on his shades to protect his eyes   
from the dry winds that were dragging along a constant cloud of sand   
and dust across the dead lands. In a way, these looked like his old   
home on the tenth sphere, a many plains had died and looked just like   
this... but even the lethal beauty of thornbloom flower could grow   
in those dry wastes, and this imaginary place had not the most   
miserable of weeds to bring as much as a flicker of life.  
  
Waving his hand, the knightmare created himself a long black cape   
out of dream matter; he slung it around his shoulders in order to   
keep warm from the sudden chill brought on by the cold gusts of wind   
that were blowing stronger with every step he took. Within minutes,   
the amount of sand dragged in the air made it almost impossible to   
look where he went; he could hardly breathe, the cruel gusts of air   
laced with dry dust infiltrating itself in his nose and mouth. He   
would have loved nothing more than to summon his battle armor to   
shrug off the attack, but this blasted wind would have laughed at   
his protection, slipping in inside the visor and making sand seep   
in through the joints. He would have to be content with his black   
clothes and cape for the time being.  
  
The strong winds soon increased into a hurricane, making any further   
progress almost totally impossible. Seeing the opaque silhouette of   
a small abandonned house within his reach, the dread knight opened   
the door and rushed inside, closing the door behind him with great   
difficulty.  
  
"Guess I`ll have to wait this one out." he thought.  
  
The sound of painful sobbing arose from the corner of the dark,   
windowless house. Ronmar`s eyes peered through the darkness and saw   
the slumped silhouette of a young woman who was crying her way to a   
slow death, curled up in a ball.  
  
"Rei, I found you." he said softly.  
  
"Go away!" she replied, tears running down her dust covered face.  
  
"I came this far for you, I won`t so easily be turned back." he   
added.  
  
"I don`t care, leave me here!"  
  
The dread knight felt pity for this broken girl who had once been   
his daughter a lifetime ago. Her spirit was shattered by the tragedy   
of losing her unborn child, but he knew that she had more strength   
of will than any other girl he knew. It was only a matter of   
unlocking this potential.  
  
"Come with me, Rei, I must show you something." said Ronmar, holding   
out his hand to her. She stared at him sadly, not budging an inch.   
"I`m not going anywhere until you`ve seen what I have to show you,   
you know." he added. She finally took his hand, allowing the   
knightmare to lift her up and show her to the door.   
  
Rei covered her eyes as he opened the door to protect her sensitive   
eyes from the sudden burst of light from the outside. The wind had   
died down, so he motionned her to follow him outside. She silently   
did, her tears flowing freely from her eyes.  
  
"Look out there. This is your soul you see." said the dread knight,   
waving his hand at the forsaken wastelands. "It looks awful right now   
for all the hurt you suffered, but for all this pain you harbor there   
is still hope hidden beneath the surface, begging to resurface."  
  
With a dramatic gesture, Ronmar summoned a superb long sword crafted   
out of a single piece of hematite gemstone, sparkling gloriously with   
the fires of mars.  
  
"This is the pure power of your faith brought to form, stronger than   
steel and more devastating than the fires of hell!" he said, handing   
the weapon to Rei.  
  
"Hellfire..." she whispered, gazing at the marvelous blade. Her   
tears stopped, and a glimmer of hope came to her eyes.  
  
"Let your strenght shine through, my soul daughter! Let it cut   
through the darkness and pierce the despair that is choking your   
mind!" urged Ronmar.  
  
With a mighty battle cry, Rei ran forward to the dead plains, the   
torn rags she wore turning into the burning red fuku of Sailor Mars,   
senshi of all fires both hellish and heavenly. She then swung the   
blade up high and struck the ground with all her strenght, driving   
it all the way into the cracked soil. As she pulled it back up,   
water started to spurt out of the hole, spurting in gushes and   
revitalizing the wounded earth with its refreshing touch.  
  
"Look at it... the ground is coming back to life..." she whispered   
in amazament.  
  
"Yes, it is." said Ronmar, hugging warmly Rei. "But it will take time   
to heal. The hurt will still be very strong for a while, but it will   
grow less until one day it will lose its hold over your heart. Just   
remember that you have your friends to help you heal, Rei. They will  
always be there for you, and so will I."  
  
Rei then shed one more tear, this one charged with as much pain as   
hope in the future. Ronmar then knew that Sailor Mars would pull   
through.  
  
* * *  
  
A serie of small muscles shook the sleeping Mitchell Dreadborne, as   
Ronamr was now known to human society, and he woke up to find that   
it was now late in the afternoon. He looked onto Rei and found that   
her drug induced sleep was now much more peaceful.  
  
"Hi, Mitchell." said Akane as she walked in the room. "That is how   
you wish to be called now, right?"  
  
"Yeah, Mitchell Dreadborne. I don`t think human society is ready to   
accept a knightmare just yet. But look who I`m telling this to..."   
said Ronmar.  
  
"So, how is she really?"  
  
"In a pretty bad shape, mentally speaking. She was on the verge of   
total psychic collapse, but I was able to contain her   
self-destruction. Her healing has begun. You can stop giving her   
those tranquilizers now."  
  
"Thank you, dread lord of darkness." said doctor Mizuno with a warm   
smile.  
  
"I am that now, but not for long." said Ronmar, stretching his sore   
muscles and inspecting his almost totally healed ribs. "The time of   
the Challenging has come, I`m afraid."  
  
"The... Challenging?" wondered Akane.  
  
"An age old tradition among the knightmare society. I`ll explain   
later." he said, vanishing into a cloud of smoke. Akane noticed that   
the smell of the vanishing dread knight was not quite as offensive as   
it was earlier, smoothing over from a sharp acrid smell to a softer   
spicy perfume.  
  
Maybe his love for his daughter from another life was returning him   
to the honorable man he used to be...  
  
* * *  
  
Finding solace in the desert hall of a train station, the shaken   
Sailor V staggered with great difficulty as her mind reeled from the   
inner conflict that was ripping her apart. One side of her was   
revolted by the fact that she had almost commited a cold blooded   
murder, while her other half was enraged that she let off the   
scumball alive, failing to kill him when she had the chance.  
  
"What`s happening to me?" she wondered, falling into a seat of the   
departure gate waiting area.  
  
An employee of the station saw Sailor V, and recognized the vicious   
vigilante for who she was. He wondered why she was there, and went to   
her after he realized that she was crying.  
  
"GET OUT OF HERE!" she screamed when she noticed the young man   
approaching her. Her eyes were shooting bolts of lightning at him,   
and he understood the message quite clearly, running for his life.   
He read the newspaper regularly and knew damn well what Sailor V   
was capable of.  
  
Once she was alone, Sailor V finally stopped crying, although her   
inner turmoil had increased tenfold by then. She was pulled in two   
opposite directions, between gentle goodness and dark, seducting   
evil. The distraught Sailor V stood up and screamed with all her   
inner pain, the headache she was suffering was rapidly turning into   
something far worse.  
  
"PLEASE MAKE THIS PAIN GO AWAY!!!" she pleaded to whatever deity   
might be watching her at that moment. Her prayer was answered, as   
the pain tore her in half- litteraly.  
  
In a burst of searing light, Sailor V was seperated into two   
seperate beings. One of them was the kind and pure Sailor Venus,   
whose hair had taken its golden blonde color again, her eyes turned   
back to their old deep blue color, while her senshi fuku was restored   
to its gold, yellow and black scheme. Minako was back to her true   
self.  
  
The second being who was standing up besides Minako was a devastating   
surprise to Sailor Venus. She was like looking at herself through a   
dark mirror; her face was identical, but everything else about her   
was tainted by her inner corruption, from the jet black hair to the   
dark senshi fuku who seemed to absorb all light around it.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Sailor Venus. "Are you... the Sailor V aspect   
of myself?"  
  
"Sort of." said the dark Venus. "Just call me V... next time we   
meet." she added, using her soul powered superhuman speed to slip   
out of the train station before Minako could get a chance to ask   
another question.  
  
She sighed, trying to think of a way to appologize to her friends   
for her inexcusable behavior of the past few weeks. Assuming that   
they even wanted to ever speak to her again, her troubles were   
just beginning, she was sure of that.  
  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  



	31. Always Love The Ones You Hurt

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
  
A lone man ran along the filth ridden tunnels of the Tokyo sewers,   
trying his best to outrun his relentless pursuer. The deadly silence   
of the noiseless movements she made drove him crazy... well,   
crazier than he already was anyway.  
  
Coran Demsy was scared out of his mind, now. He thought he`d outran   
her way back there at the asylum, but she found him again. Psyche   
knew she was right there behind him, even though the only noise he   
could hear was the dirty water splashing under his feet.  
  
"You`ll never get away from her, you know." said the all too familiar   
voice of Sailor Jendra whose image haunted him day and night.  
  
"Shut up!" he snapped back, running as fast as his tired legs would   
allow.  
  
A putrid stench assaulted his nose, but he didn`t take notice as the   
sewer was pugnant enough already. He did notice, however, the black   
shroud which suddenly surrounded him. Psyche stopped running, his   
mind seized by total panic.  
  
"There`s no way you can possibly live through this." taunted the   
haunting hallucination of Sailor Mercury, mocking him as she always   
did.  
  
Demsy wanted very much to pull out that gun he stole from one of the   
asylum guards, but he ran out of bullets days ago when he tried to   
kill those two insolent sailor scouts that followed him everywhere.   
Besides, this creature that was after him was less than likely to be   
affected by hot lead.  
  
"You`re going to die, now, psychic freak!" said both hallucinations   
at once.  
  
Psyche wanted to object to them, but his answer was cut short by a   
flash of cold steel that materialized from the black shroud and   
killed him instantly.  
  
The two images vanished as the blood of the fallen madman Coran   
Demsy spilled into the filthy waters, a wicked feminine laughter   
filling the dark tunnels.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 31  
  
ALWAYS LOVE THE ONES YOU HURT  
  
  
Flowing freely in the patterns that had been shaped through billions   
of years of continuous circulation, the molten magma emitted immense   
amounts of heat that radiated through the earth`s crust and upwards   
to the surface. It had given much needed heat to the ecosystem over   
this very long period and had taken a great part into the creation   
of life, but now this precious energy was being diverted and stolen   
away a clever network of aebonite crystals.  
  
The smaller pieces took this raw geothermal energy and altered its   
form slightly for ease of redirection, and sent it to some larger   
pieces placed nearby. These pieces then transmitted the energy to   
strategically located chunks of greater size, and so on as the pieces   
grew larger and the stolen energy flow increased in power.  
  
Unknown to the creators of this crystalline network, one of the major   
pieces of aebonite mineral was flawed; it was a tiny crack, nothing   
even visible, but large enough still to be trouble. The unrelenting   
flow of powerful energy was exerting an unimaginable stress on the   
crystal`s surface, which had began to slowly gnaw at the microscopic   
flaw until it had grown into a rather wide crack. As time went by,   
the increasing energy flow became too much for the worn out piece of   
crystal, until it finally called it quits and shattered into a   
hundred pieces, leaving a gaping hole in the earth`s natural energy   
distribution grid.  
  
* * *  
  
Monitoring the energy patterns arriving into the collection orbs   
scattered all around his secret fortress, Aebonite noticed the sudden   
drop in asian energy collection. It didn`t take him too long to   
realize WHAT had happened, that one of his major crystal fragments   
had been destroyed from the stress of energy influx. Not something he   
liked to see, but not totally unexpected either. The amount of energy   
going through these crystals was enormous, and even though the most   
resiliant pieces were used to create the redirecting crystals, a few   
of them were bound to break along the way.  
  
Fortunately, he`d planned for just such a situation.  
  
Aebonite passed his hand over the small quartz sphere floating in   
front of his throne, changing the image on his viewing crystal screen   
from a diagram of earthly energy patterns to that of the dining room   
of his officers where his generals were having their meal.  
  
"Attention to my superior oficers, an urgent matter has arisen. Meet   
me in my throne room in minutes for mission specifics." said   
Aebonite. Thorelia, Ghangoroth, Dokuryo and Shingo bowed to their   
master and the crystal then went blank.  
  
The ruler of the dark empire figured he would need a full squadron   
of his best forces to deal with the replacement of his broken   
crystal. These meddlesome girl warriors had been there to put a stop   
to his plans every chance they got, no matter how discreet his agents   
had been. Now that the location of his next strike was being   
broadcast all over the planetary energy web, no way could they   
possibly miss his next move.  
  
* * *  
  
"There it is, I spotted it barely half an hour ago." said Ami,   
showing her allies the energy diagrams on her laptop screen. They   
did something there, though they didn`t really know what to make of   
it.  
  
The Sailor Senshi were all there with their allies, save those who   
couldn`t be there, namely the still recovering Mars, the paraplegic   
Jupiter, the temporarily insane Venus and the missing Emerald Knight.   
Laurella had made it to the meeting called by Ami at her home,   
although she was visibly affected by her boyfriend`s kidnapping.  
  
"Can you pinpoint the exact location?" wondered Mamoru.  
  
"Easily. I studied the smaller crystal I got from fighting that tiger   
youma, and discovered that sending geothermal energy through it   
creates a natural shielding process... but this incident I just   
detected suggests that a very large piece is located right there in   
the Osaka region, and because it`s broken I can tell you exactly   
where it is within a 1 mile radius more or less." Ami went on to   
explain.  
  
"So we must expect that they`ll try to replace it, if they are to   
carry out their plan..." added Michiru.  
  
"Precisely. This hole in their energy draining matrix is   
destabilizing their entire effort." said Ami.  
  
"The dark empire will send out the big guns on this one for sure."   
said Haruka, cracking her knuckles. She wanted a rematch with the   
jerks who had almost killed both her and her lover.  
  
"Figures. This is so obviously detectable, they`ll expect us there!"   
added Robin.  
  
"Ami, if they use their portals to go there... do you think you could   
find out where they`re hiding out?" softly said Laurella, speaking   
for the first time since she got there. Ami looked at her friend,   
who was showing a glimmer of hope that the man she loved so much   
could be rescued before something awful happened to him.  
  
"Of course, Laurella, I`ve prepared several backup plans to try and   
figure out where he`s held." she said, bringing a faint smile to her   
friend`s face. Of course, she wasn`t being totally truthful to   
Laurella, as most of these plans were hypothetical and not even close   
to being applicable, but in her current state Laurella`s usually   
keen empathic skills were so impaired that she couldn`t tell whether   
her friend was lying to her or not.  
  
"Say, Ami, you called this meeting this morning... and yet you   
detected this... whatever it is only half an hour ago! What else did   
you want to discuss that was so important?" wondered Usagi.  
  
All stares went from Usagi to Ami, as everyone realized that Usagi   
was right.  
  
Ami blushed, and looked down on the floor. "Why don`t we discuss   
this later when we`ve taken care of this situation? It`s a bit of a   
touchy subject, and we need to remain focused when we strike..."  
  
"Okay, but when we return we want the full story, Ami. And remember,   
we`re your friends." said Usagi, giving Ami a big smile to offer her   
support.  
  
"Deal!" replied Ami.  
  
At this moment, the doorbell rang and everyone froze for a second.   
Could Ami`s mother be back already from her hospital shift?  
  
"Don`t worry, even if mom is here she won`t mind at all having you   
all here... she`s been on my case about having more friends for   
years now." said the brainy girl, getting up to answer. She opened   
the door, but saw someone she didn`t expect, not in a hundred years.  
  
Aino Minako was standing there, her honey blonde hair and pure blue   
eyes restored to their true colors, her face streaked by the tears   
of someone who spent many hours crying.  
  
"I heard the general message you sent on the communicator... do you   
mind if I join?" said Minako, holding back even more tears.  
  
"Err... sure, come in..." said Ami, hesitating to answer.  
  
A sudden cold chill infected the atmosphere of Ami`s living room as   
everyone stopped talking, simply staring at Minako who entered the   
room and shyly looked around.  
  
"I can`t believe your nerve, showing your face here after what you   
did." said Haruka accusingly, breaking the uncomfortable silence.  
  
"I know that I did some terrible things, and I`m not expecting any   
of you to forgive me... but all I ask is that you give me a second   
chance to prove myself, that I`ve come around..." said Minako,   
looking at Ami the whole time.   
  
"She`s sincere, I know that look..." said Ami. "We should give her   
a chance."  
  
The rest of her friends seemed uncomfortable about welcoming back   
the girl who went on the bloodiest vigilante rampage in recorded   
history, but they trusted Ami very much and accepted out of respect   
for her.  
  
"We`ll need another fighter on our side, I guess..." conceded   
Haruka.  
  
"You won`t regret it, I promise!" said Minako whose face suddenly   
gleamed with the chirpiness the old Minako was known for.  
  
* * *  
  
She`d looked everywhere for him; no matter where she went, Luna   
simply couldn`t find Artemis, a pattern that had been repeating   
itself more and more recently. At first she thought he might have   
been feeling tired over the recent serie of cataclysmic battles   
that shook Tokyo, but he`d been missing meetings and strategic   
planning sessions a lot lately. Since that reunion where he   
explained to everyone the nature of aebonite crystals, he`d been   
skipping all meetings and dodging everyone.  
  
Luna just didn`t know what to make of it, Artemis seemed like a   
whole new person. She wasn`t sure if she liked that or not...  
  
* * *  
  
It took her several minutes to get from her wheelchair onto her bed,   
but Makoto did it all by herself, no small achievement. She smiled   
at the thought that she might soon be able to return to a life of   
independance, though she`d have to change a lot of things to   
accomodate her new condition. Access ramps, modified kitchen,   
adapted bathroom... all these things she learned about from the   
readaptation service. It seemed like a lot, but she was up to the   
challenge.  
  
Then something weird happened. Again.  
  
She could see images in her mind, images of strange humanoid   
creatures moving around, preparing for a strike somewhere. And there   
were a few people there she recognized from Shingo`s torture session   
which she saw in the same manner...  
  
"What`s happening? Why am I seeing this?" she wondered.  
  
She wanted to do something... intuitively, her hand went to her   
precious Jupiter transformation wand, but once again it failed to   
do the desired change. She heard evil voices resounding in her ears,   
yelling orders to be ready to kill her friends when they would be   
there. Tears came to her eyes, she wanted to be there for them!!!  
  
"I want to be Sailor Jupiter... no, I AM SAILOR JUPITER, I ALWAYS   
WAS!!!" she thought with more conviction than she had ever felt   
about anything. This she was sure, a child of lightning she was and   
justice was the path set for her.  
  
Then it clicked in her.  
  
Makoto had wondered for some time how it felt to achieve soul power   
as most of her allies had done already. It was the most glorious   
sensation she had ever felt, more profound than any of the crushes   
she`d had over her past boyfriends, more divine than the first time   
she felt what she later learned was an orgasm. Her mind was aligning   
itself with her soul to perfection, unleashing wave after wave of   
surging power that flooded her entire being.  
  
When the golden light died down, Makoto was wearing the green fuku   
of the Sailor Senshi which was complete with the forearm and shin   
guards, with the addition of the light green visor. On her right   
thigh were the kanji RAI NO SENSHI, soldier of lightning.  
  
"This is amazing..." she thought, sitting up in her hospital bed to   
look at her new suit.  
  
But that wasn`t going to be the biggest surprise of all. She felt   
that her knee-high boots were a little tight around her calves. Wait   
a minute? She FELT the boots?!? She had sensation under her waist!   
She felt her feet, her legs! She could even move them!!!  
  
Proceeding carefully at first, Sailor Jupiter stood up from her bed,   
then took a hesitant step, a bit shaky on her feet; after all, she   
hadn`t walked in a long time. Then the next step was easier, then   
the next, then she was runnning out of her room, and outside the   
hospital.   
  
Sailor Jupiter was back, and she knew her friends would need her   
tonight.   
  
* * *  
  
She sat alone in her studio, exhausted by the huge effort placed on   
her by the huge order for the largest youma horde ever created in   
history. All this for a single operation, the one strike that would   
make or break the rebirth of the dark empire. She looked around,   
seeing her workshop naked of any of the dozens statues she had   
created for the empire and animated into humanoid beasts.  
  
Thorelia was so tired that she didn`t even care about her synthetic   
flesh mask that was almost ready to give up on her, melting in large   
drops and forming a small puddle at her feet.  
  
Moving his body in reptilelike sways as his clawed feet raked the   
sheer stone floor, Dokuryo joined the tired sculptress in her dark   
studio. He sat besides her, looking at her with warmth and   
compassion.  
  
"I heard how hard Aebonite had you working to animate all these   
youma. He`s driven you like a slave with a whip. Here, I brought you   
this." he said, handing her over a soft fleshlike mask of delicate   
beauty. Thorelia was astounded.  
  
"Where did you find this mask? I didn`t have time to craft a new one   
myself..." she said, dragging her finger over the soft surface of   
the feminine face she held in her hands. A large glob of melted   
synthetic flesh fell down from her cheek onto Dokuryo`s hand.   
Thorelia let out a small sob and turned away in shame.  
  
"Don`t be sorry for who you are, Thorelia. I learned long ago to   
accept my form, even if it revulsed me and all those around." said   
the toxic dragon.  
  
"Thank you, Dokuryo, you`re very kind... and I always thought your   
scales to be very beautiful, old friend." said Thorelia.  
  
"Why don`t you put your face on, friend artist?"  
  
Thorelia smiled, then blushed. "But that means I have to take the   
old one off first..." she said, whispering as she looked at the   
puddle on the floor.  
  
"You can do it in front of me, you could never do anything to make   
me feel uncomfortable, you know that..." said Dokuryo.  
  
She hesitated, but did it nonetheless. With a swift motion, she used   
her hand to scrape the rapidly liquifying mask off her face,   
revealing the full horror of her condition. She had no skin   
whatsoever over her disfigured face, her facial muscles and   
throbbing veins fully exposed to Dokuryo`s view. It took all of   
his strenght not to cry at the terrible curse that afflicted her.  
  
Thorelia noticed his discomfort, but pretended not to be aware of   
it as she slipped on her new face. The soft lines of her new   
appearance were quite flattering on her, and brought a smile to the   
artist as she looked at her reflection in a nearby mirror. "It`s the   
most beautiful I`ve ever looked... thank you, Dokuryo... where did   
you get this mask?" she asked, a sparkle of joy in her eyes.  
  
"I... made it myself, in my spare time." he said, blushing, if such   
a thing was possible for one whose skin is made of thousands of tiny   
interlocking light green scales.  
  
"Thank you, Dokuryo. It`s wonderful." she replied, kissing him   
before he could say anything else.  
  
Breaking the kiss after a while, the toxic dragon apologized for   
having to leave. "Time to fight for the empire." he mumbled, leaving   
in a hurry.  
  
Thorelia sighed as the dragon left, wondering if she`d ever be so   
lucky as to have a real face-a-face to win the heart of the only   
one who really cared about her feelings. This face he made wouldn`t   
last more than two hours, she knew it well- she was the only one   
who knew the many intricaties of creating masks that could resist   
Beryl`s curse for more than a day.  
  
But she didn`t care. She`d stay in front of that mirror for as long   
as her new face would hold, admiring the masterful crafting that   
went into the loving sculpting of the face she was given.  
  
"I love you, my toxic dragon..." she whispered, as she prayed for   
him to return safely from his mission.  
  
* * *  
  
"Thanks mom... we`ll give you news of how it went as soon as we come   
back." said Usagi on the phone, then hung up. She felt relieved that   
her parents would keep an eye on Chibi-Usa in the absence of herself   
and Mamoru... she didn`t know why the small lady had entered this   
strange cocoon she had spun in her room, but Usagi was determined   
that nothing happened to her while she was in this defenseless   
condition.  
  
"She`ll be in good hands. I know we can trust them with the life of   
our daughter." said Mamoru as he snuck up behind her and put his   
arms around her waist and hugged her tenderly.  
  
"Yeah, and they`re really understanding about my being Sailor Moon   
and all. They encourage me with all their heart, even if I know that   
deep down inside they`re worried sick every single time I   
transform..." she said, closing her eyes and enjoying the moment to   
the fullest before the storm arrives.  
  
"Just the same as we worry of our small lady... isn`t that what   
being a parent is all about?" asked Mamoru. Usagi giggled at the   
thought... she still figured herself too young to be a mother and   
yet fate had sent her this sweet young girl who would be born of   
her love with her darling prince...  
  
"The others are waiting for us, my bunny." whispered Mamoru.  
  
"Just give me a kiss before we join them, please?" she pleaded   
softly.  
  
"Granted, one kiss... a small token of what I have planned for later   
tonight..." he said.  
  
Usagi`s eyes lit up with desire as she realized what he meant, and he   
brought his lips to hers for a single kiss, charged with all the   
passion that burned in his heart for his princess.  
  
Time stopped for just an instant, bolts of lightning going from the   
tender man`s lips through hers, descending through her spine in   
little sparks of pleasure.  
  
"A-hem..." voiced Haruka loudly to get the couple`s attention.   
Mamoru and Usagi snapped back to reality, noticing the heart-filled   
eyes of the entire contigent of sailor senshi set upon them. Several   
girlish giggles resounded from their audience.  
  
"Are the lovebirds ready to go?" asked Setsuna, barely able to   
contain her laughter.  
  
"Yes, let`s transform and go!" said Usagi. Ami`s place was suddenly   
filled with flash after golden flash as the girls transformed into   
their heroic forms.  
  
"MOON SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
"MERCURY SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
"VENUS SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
"NEPTUNE SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
"URANUS SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
"SATURN SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
"JENDRA STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
"PLUTO STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
Following in the lead of his feminine allies, Mamoru`s form was   
blurred in a flash of red light to reveal the chivalrous Prince   
Endymion, dressed in his black suit, cape and breastplate.  
  
"Show me the location, Mercury." asked Pluto, holding up her time   
key and standing ready to open a gate.  
  
Sailor Mercury held up her laptop, pointing to a small deserted   
location in a rocky region of western Japan. "Be especially careful   
of the location`s altitude- it`s underground!" she said.  
  
"I`ll keep that in mind." replied Pluto. With one dramatic move of   
her staff, a glowing purple portal opened up in front of them.  
  
"Say, Pluto, is the big act really necessary when you do that?"   
whispered Neptune to Pluto.  
  
"Not really, it just makes it look more impressive!" she whispered   
back with a smile.  
  
The six senshi, two scouts and the prince stepped in, leaving the   
luxurious appartment for what would certainly turn into a bloody   
battleground.  
  
"Waaaaaaaait!" resounded a voice from the corridor, and Sailor   
Jupiter came charging in, panting hard as she had run the entire   
distance from the hospital right to her friend`s place. Seeing the   
shimmering portal, she understood that she was not too late. She   
jumped for it, making it inside half a second before it closed.  
  
She landed down on the other side of the rift in space inside a dark,   
damp cavern somewhere in the underground cavern maze where Sailor   
Pluto had brought everyone.  
  
"Ouch, that was a tough landing..." she said, rubbing her sore arms   
and knees.  
  
"JUPITER!!! You`re here... and you`re walking!!!" said Sailor Moon,   
completely astonished.  
  
"Yeah, soul power did the trick! You were right about that, it`s the   
greatest feeling in the world!" replied Jupiter.  
  
"Well... second best, actually, isn`t that right Sailor Moon?" said   
Jendra, giving her a small elbow jab and laughing. Sailor Moon   
blushed bright red along with Endymion.  
  
"Okay, enough with the joking here. We have a big fight on our hands,   
and we have to stay on our guards for a..." started Uranus, but she   
was interrupted by Ghangoroth who finished her sentence.  
  
"SNEAK ATTACK!!!" resounded his voice in the cavern as a pyrokynetic   
ball of flame soared towards the young warriors. They broke apart in   
a second, dodging the projectile which then hit the ground harmlessly,   
detonating into a scorching streak of flames that moved forward in a  
straight line, splitting in three different directions to form a huge   
fiery version of the greek letter PSI.  
  
Recovering from the sudden assault, the girls quickly regained their   
confidence and were ready to face the man whose flame engulfed head   
was giving away his position in the cave`s darkness.  
  
"I am Ghangoroth, general to Lord Aebonite of the Dark Empire, and   
your path stops here, my worthy enemies." he said with unwavering   
calm.  
  
Another warrior emerged from the darkness, his reptilian anatomy   
making him a shocking sight to his opponents. "I am Dokuryo, and I   
have been sent by my lord to put an end to your efforts of   
resistance once and for all." he said.  
  
A third figure, even more ominous figure appeared. It was wearing   
the dark green armor forged a decade ago by the mighty Kunzite.   
"Call me the Malachite Warlord. Fear me for I am the death of you   
all." said the warrior, speaking in a loud, dreadful voice.  
  
"We know you`re strong, but we don`t fear you, because we have our   
powers, our courage and our faith!" said Sailor Venus, taking a   
defiant stand. "Besides, we outnumber you by more than three to   
one!" she added.  
  
"Oh, really?" asked the toxic dragon, smirking.  
  
Shadows crawled around the team of earth`s champions, revealing the   
figures of the largest youma horde they had ever seen.  
  
"As it stands, we may not even have to get our hands dirty..." said   
Dokuryo.  
  
"Come, generals of the empire, we have an aebonite crystal to set   
up." said the psionic warrior.  
  
The three generals left the cave, leaving the large contingent of   
humanoid beasts to deal with the enemies of their master Aebonite.  
  
"They`re getting away!" yelled Endymion.  
  
"We`ll have to fight our way through to stop them!" replied Pluto.  
  
Jupiter and Uranus were two steps ahead of her already, calling forth   
their sacred weapons.  
  
"Heaven`s Wrath!!!" screamed Uranus, an onyx katana forming in her   
hand in a sudden gust of cold wind. "Mjolnir!!!" yelled Jupiter, a   
jade warhammer appearing in her hand as the sound of crashing thunder   
echoed in the cavern. Both warriors ran forward with a mighty battle   
cry, piercing the barrier of youma with their drawn weapons.  
  
Following their example, the remaining senshi called forth their   
sacred weapons as well.  
  
"Avenger!"  
  
"Monsoon!"  
  
"Soulstar!"  
  
"DeadShot!"  
  
"Dreadbane!"  
  
The remaining three warriors readied their own weapons: Sailor Pluto   
with her time key, Prince Endymion with his sharp sword and Sailor   
Jendra who summoned her prismatic seven slasher to create seven   
deadly boomerangs of solidified colored light.  
  
The monster horde tightened the circle and charged forward, engaging   
the warriors not already fighting through the lethal youma squadron.   
For the next few minutes, the entire battle faded into a violent blur   
for our heroes as they cut down through seemingly endless hordes of   
the vilest creatures that only the most twisted subconscious human   
minds could fathom in all the horror of its deepest, darkest   
nightmares.  
  
As the first wave was almost destroyed, a second large group moved   
in to attack, composed of brutish ox-like humanoid female youma.   
Sailor Venus saw them, and was ready to give those creatures just   
what they deserved.   
  
"DEADLY WINDS ON BANE!!!" She screamed.  
  
A sudden gust of wind blew from behind her while a pinkish shroud   
formed around her, blowing into the monsters who began to burn and   
melt from the acid attack of Venus. The youma breathing in the   
lethal gas cloud gurgled hideously, their destroyed lungs refusing   
them their last scream of pain. Most of this new horde was thus   
struck down before it ever got a chance to give a single blow.  
  
Seeing an opening in the ranks of their enemies, Sailor Jupiter   
sprang forward and bashed a pair of serpent women who blocked her   
way; she ran down the corridor in pursuit of the three generals in   
the hope of stopping them from activating the crystal.  
  
And the battle went on.  
  
* * *  
  
Back in Tokyo, Tsukino Kenji held his wife Ikuko in his arms as they   
sat by the window of the bedroom of the girl who would one day be   
their grandaughter Chibi-Usa. Sitting in one of the few spots in the   
room not overtaken by the large web of fibers holding the cocoon in   
place, the loving couple wondered how their beloved daughter was   
doing.  
  
"I hope she`s not taking any unnecassary risks out there..." said   
Ikuko.  
  
"Even if we wanted her not to, she couldn`t help it but do so anyway.   
She`s risking her life every time she transforms, fighting impossible   
odds to ensure a better future for all of us." said Kenji, letting   
his eyes wander onto the silver moon peering from behind a passing   
cloud.  
  
"Let`s face it... we have a wonderful girl who`ll risk everything to   
stand up for what she believes." replied Ikuko.  
  
High in the night sky, she saw the long burning streak of three   
shooting stars falling down to earth. She was always told by her   
parents since she was a child that a shooting star was a bad omen,   
a sign of trouble ahead.  
  
She didn`t dare imagine what three of them at once could harbor.  
  
* * *  
  
With the sound of Technum powered attacks echoing in the corridor   
behind her, Sailor Jupiter ran as fast as her newly healed legs   
would carry her, pursuing the three generals of Aebonite. She would   
surely be outnumbered once she caught up with them, but she had her   
power, her faith and this heavy jade warhammer in her hands, and   
every blow she swung would be charged with the raw strength of a   
thunderstorm.  
  
"Where are you, monsters?" she yelled as she ran down the almost   
totally dark corridors which were occasionaly lit by a flash of   
power from one of the special attacks of the senshi.  
  
She eventually emerged into another cave where she saw the reptile   
man, the caped fire headed psionic and the malachite clad warrior   
working over a four feet wide chunk of ice blue crystal that she was   
sure was aebonite mineral. A cold shiver bit her skin, telling her   
that the crystal was almost ready to be activated to full power.  
  
"She`s here." said Ghangoroth, feeling her presence without even   
turning around to see her enter the cave.  
  
"We need to finish this quickly before her friends arrive." added   
Dokuryo.  
  
"I`ll take care of this, fellow warriors." said the Malachite   
Warlord, picking up a large two handed sword with a jagged edge. He   
walked slowly across the very large dome shaped cave towards his   
enemy while making huge deadly slashes in the air to intimidate   
Jupiter. His allies picked up the pace on their mineral activation   
work, determined to complete their mission as fast as they possibly   
could.  
  
"I am the destroyer of souls, the end of your faith, I bring the   
pestilence to the fields of humanity and pay the wages of sin..." he   
said ominously, moving in for the kill. He swung down his sword with   
all his strenght upon Sailor Jupiter who parried the attack with   
Mjolnir. They began a savage exchange of blows, each one thundering   
with the sound of clashing steel and crashing lightning.  
  
Try as each one of them would, neither seemed to gain the upper hand,   
every hack and slash either dodged or blocked. Jupiter panicked as   
she felt the power of the crystal increasing rapidly, but was unable   
to reach it because of this incredibly powerful warrior barring her  
way.  
  
Taking advantage of a slight misstep he took, she used her powers   
to destabilize him.  
  
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!!!"  
  
Forming a fist-sized ball of thunder in her hand, she tossed it   
towards the warrior, hitting him directly on his studded helm which   
flew right off his hand as he collapsed on the ground.  
  
"OH MY GOD..." thought Jupiter as she saw the face of the warolord,   
the sheer shock of this revelation freezing the words down her   
throat.  
  
The warlord crawled up on his hands and knees, trying to shake off   
the convulsions caused by the electric shock. His face was one she`d   
have recognized anywhere... it was Shingo, the kidnapped Emerald   
Knight! He had the same features that she was used to seing, although   
they were now twisted hideously by a burning fire of hatred and   
loathing. He was now corrupt to the core, a true puppet of his evil   
master Aebonite.  
  
She didn`t have time to react to this sudden revelation; the aebonite   
crystal was operating at full force now, and the cave rocked into a   
sudden quake as a shield of raw energy formed around the crystal.  
  
"VICTORY!!!" screamed Dokuryo while he backed away from the   
energizing mineral.  
  
"NOOOO!" screamed Jupiter. She knew then she had failed.  
  
* * *  
  
"What happened?" asked Venus as she finished slashing down a trio of   
ratlike youma.  
  
"I think the aebonite crystal just got activated... we`re too   
late!!!" answered Mercury, aiming at an insect creature and shooting   
it down with a well placed ice arrow.  
  
A shooting ball of purple energy struck down the last monsters;   
Pluto`s dead scream attack had put the final touch to the senshi   
massacre. "Where`s Jupiter?" she wondered, noticing one of her   
allies was missing.  
  
"She ran to try and stop the generals when she had an opening   
earlier. Let`s go join her!" said Sailor Moon.  
  
A second earthquake shook the underground cavern, and the tunnel   
that Jupiter took collapsed completely upon itself.  
  
"This is VERY bad..." said Saturn. She got no disagreement on that   
statement.  
  
* * *  
  
"Come on, you did great." said Dokuryo as he helped the Malachite   
Warlord stand up. He was still shocked out of his mind from the   
lightning ball hurled at him by Sailor Jupiter. He could barely keep   
standing up even with the toxic dragon`s help.  
  
"I`ll stay behind and finish our work. Bring him home, my friend."   
said Ghangoroth.  
  
Dokuryo agreed, and a dark portal formed in front of the two dark   
empire warriors who entered and vanished the passage to the fortress   
of Aebonite.  
  
Sailor Jupiter got up, painfully shaking off the dizzyness she felt   
after she lost her balance and hit the ground when the serie of   
earthquakes struck. She looked at the last general who was still   
there with her, the psionic warrior whose head was engulfed in   
heatless flames.  
  
Then it happened again. She was seeing herself through his eyes,   
and she had no idea why.  
  
"Don`t you understand yet, Jupiter?" asked Ghangoroth who seemed to   
be reading her mind...  
  
"Yes, I am reading your mind..." he said. "And you can read mine   
too."  
  
"How is that possible?" asked Jupiter.  
  
"Don`t you understand yet... my love?" asked Ghangoroth. The flames   
around his head wavered and died, revealing the face of the man who   
rescued her when she was shot in that alley, the man she loved,   
Xavier.  
  
"X...Xavier? YOU`RE GHANGOROTH?!?"  
  
"Correct. I`m one of the last surviving servants of Beryl, the   
underling of her son-in-law Aebonite... but I fell in love with you,   
Kino Makoto. I did my best to shield you from my duty to destroy   
your allies, but you had to come here..." said Ghangoroth, a sad   
look on his face.  
  
"Are you going to kill me, now?" wondered Makoto. She prayed he   
wasn`t going to, because she knew right there that she wouldn`t have   
the courage to hurt him, that she`d rather let him kill her where   
she stood.  
  
"I don`t want t hurt you, my love, that`s why I lied to Aebonite   
when he asked me to scan the mind of Emerald Knight... I clearly saw   
he was the brother of Sailor Moon, but revealing that would have   
led him straight to you. I couldn`t do that." he replied. The psionic   
man then moved close to her and took her in his arms.  
  
Makoto could feel his eyes peering straight into her soul, where he   
saw the great love she felt for him. She then understood why she`d   
been seeing things through his eyes: their mutual love had forged a   
link between their minds through Ghangoroth`s telepathic abilities.   
They were one mind now.  
  
Not saying another word, they closed their eyes and kissed. Jupiter   
felt her whole body relaxed, and her fingers opened up, letting her   
sacred weapon slip to the floor where it clanked heavily. They lost   
themselves in the moment, their mind, hearts and souls merging into   
a single entity through the strength of their love.  
  
Then she felt something disturbed her lover.  
  
"Someone`s coming through the portal." his voice said in her mind.   
Psionic flames surged around his head once again.  
  
Pretending to fight Sailor Jupiter, he pushed her away in a blast   
of telekinetic energy which knocked her down, but not so harshly   
that it could harm her. She played along and pretended to be in more   
pain than she really was. At that moment, Dokuryo stepped out of the   
portal.  
  
"Isn`t this over yet?!" he asked.  
  
"She`s tougher than she seems. I`ll be done in a minute... why did   
you come back anyway, toxic dragon?" wondered Ghangoroth.  
  
"Aebonite thought you`d need help to carry her dead body back to the   
fortress."  
  
"We`re not staining our home with corpses!" protested Ghangoroth.  
  
"Don`t worry about that... it won`t smell if it`s well preserved."   
said Dokuryo, taking a small piece of white crystal from his jacket   
pocket. Jupiter could feel that it contained a vast amount of power,   
and she also felt her lover`s panic which he kept hidden from his   
ally.  
  
"What the hell are you doing? It`s my fight!" objected the psionic   
man.  
  
"Not anymore, by Aebonite`s order." interposed the reptile,   
activating the crystal which he threw hard at Jupiter.  
  
She barely had time to realize what happened next. She heard her   
lover screaming a loud "NO!" and saw him throw himself in front of   
her, a huge frost explosion swallowing him whole as the projectile   
touched him. When the cold fog cleared, he was trapped inside a huge   
piece of ice, his features frozen in icy stupor.  
  
"XAVIER!!!" she screamed in pain.  
  
Dokuryo watched at the scene in silent contemplation. Without a word,   
he turned back, took the portal for the fortress and closed it behind   
him. His ally`s fate had been sealed.  
  
"I`m trapped, Makoto." echoed his voice inside her mind. Through   
their shared link, she could feel his body getting colder and colder,   
pressure building on his lungs who desperately fought for air they   
couldn`t get.  
  
"Can`t you use your fire generating powers to melt it?" she asked   
telepathically.  
  
"No, this ice is magical... it neutralizes my fire generating power."   
he replied, his voice growing fainter in her mind.  
  
"I`m not going to let you die!" she said, picking up her warhammer   
and slamming it on the icy surface. The power of the blow was   
returned to her by the mystic substance, blowing her flat on her   
back.  
  
"You know, Makoto, I never had a chance to tell you how much you   
remind me of my deceased wife." said Ghangoroth, getting weaker as   
his brain began running out of oxygen. "I always felt remorse for   
not being there for her when she died, but now I repaid my debt... I   
love you, Makoto..." she heard in her head. The love she felt pouring   
from his heart was beautiful, and it increased her feeling of   
helplessness as she felt him dying.  
  
* * *  
  
"Damn it, Pluto, can`t you just open a simple portal over a hundred   
feet?!?" yelled Uranus, who was horribly annoyed of not being there   
to help Jupiter trash these dark empire bastards over there.  
  
"The energy shielding of the aebonite crystal is interfering with my   
powers, I can`t get us that close! We`ll have to DIG our way   
through." explained Pluto.  
  
"Okay, then, digging it is! WORLD.... SHA..." started to say Sailor   
Uranus, her extended hand starting to fill with energy to perform her   
trademark world shacking attack. Neptune grabbed her wrists and   
stopped her right there.  
  
"Don`t do that! You`ll bury us alive if you do try and blast your   
way through!" she objected.  
  
"And how do you suggest we proceed? Dig by hand? That`ll take   
forever!" replied Sailor Moon.  
  
"All the more reason to start right now." said Endymion who sheated   
his sword and started to pick rocks out of the blocked passage.   
Uranus blushed when she realized how silly she must have looked for   
losing her temper, then joined the prince in his effort. Soon after,   
the senshi were all working together to open up the tunnel.  
  
* * *  
  
Using her own fists, she started bashing the ice block, to no avail.   
It was resisting every hit she was giving, no matter how much   
strenght she used. Tears began to form in Jupiter`s eyes as she   
failed to crack the prison that was suffocating her lover.  
  
She stopped throwing her punches for a moment, her hands hurting as   
if they`d been caught in a garbage compactor. She looked at   
Ghangoroth, but she couldn`t feel his thoughts anymore. She then   
felt his spark of life diminishing, and then vanishing.  
  
He was dead.  
  
Makoto screamed at the top of her lungs in a mix of heartbreaking   
pain and mindless anger, bashing her fists into the ice block without   
any consideration to her own well-being. Her black leather gloves   
soon gave out, ripping out and exposing her bare knuckles which she   
kept slamming repeatedly while she screamed out her loss.  
  
She kept on punching when her skin itself began to tear. She didn`t   
care.  
  
* * *  
  
"All right, we`re almost there!" said Mercury, seeing on her laptop   
that only two meters of rubble blocked their way now. It had taken   
just over an hour to make it that far, and they were all glad to have   
made it through at long last.  
  
"Stand back!" commanded Uranus, whom no one tried to stop. She   
concentrated all her inner power into a single blow, focusing on the   
apparent weakness into the rock formation, a talent she got when she   
transcended into soul power. The punch did its job, detonating the   
rock barrier into pebbles.  
  
The sight that greeted them was a tragic one. They saw a large block   
of magical ice holding the man whom they knew as Xavier, Makoto`s   
boyfriend, wearing a dark empire general uniform. Slumped against   
this block of ice, Sailor Jupiter was crying uncontrollably. Her   
knuckles were terribly wounded, her skin gnawed to the bone from   
repeatedly striking something she just couldn`t break. The ice block   
itself was covered with her frozen blood where she`d been punching   
in a futile effort to release her now dead lover.  
  
They realized at that point the real extent of their failure.  
  
* * *  
  
Epilogue...  
  
  
A shimmering purple energy gate opened in the living room of the   
Tsukino residence, allowing passage to the tired warriors from the   
Osaka underground caves back to their hometown of Tokyo. Sad faces   
and bruised bodies were the only thing the champions of earth   
brought back from their expedition.  
  
"What happened???" asked Ikuko in concern when she saw them   
arriving in their battered condition.  
  
"We lost, mom." said Sailor Moon. "And Jupiter lost even more than   
just a battle..." she added, looking at her sobbing friend who was   
helped by Endymion to sit down on the sofa.  
  
"Oh." said Ikuko who understood what her daughter was hinting at.  
  
"Can she stay over tonight? I wouldn`t want her to be alone..." asked   
Sailor Moon.  
  
"Of course, dear, she can stay as long as she needs to." answered her   
mother.  
  
"Thanks." said Sailor Moon. She then reverted back to her plain pink   
blouse and pants in a flash of golden light. The others followed her   
lead, reverting back to their more comfortable regular clothes.  
  
"Usagi darling, I`m glad you came back in time, there`s something you   
should see..." said her father Kenji as he came down the stairs.   
"Mamoru... I think you should come upstairs too."  
  
They went up and saw exactly what Kenji meant. In Chibi-Usa`s room,   
the cocoon was beginning to stir from the inside.  
  
"Do you think... she`s coming out now?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"I... don`t know." replied Mamoru. Standing behind them in the   
hallway, Kenji and Ikuko silently awaited to see if their future   
grandaughter would emerge as they believed she was trying to.  
  
With a loud cracking sound, the dried up fibers that covered the body   
of the small lady started to give under the efforts of the awakening   
young girl. Piece after piece of the now useless cocoon fell down   
until Chibi-Usa was finally able to free herself completely and   
stand up.   
  
The small lady wasn`t so small anymore.  
  
"Chibi-Usa... you`re..." uttered Usagi.  
  
"...all grown up!" completed Mamoru.  
  
Indeed, the torn rags that were just the right fit for Chibi-Usa   
just days ago had been ripped apart from her supernatural growth.   
She was now a fully matured young woman whose feminine attributes   
were just as beautifully formed as her mother`s. Her breasts were   
round and firm, while her hips had taken perfect curves.   
  
"It took me 900 years, mom and dad, but I finally did it! I`m an   
adult now!" she said with pride.  
  
"Your hair..." observed Mamoru, "...it changed color!"   
  
The hair of Chibi-Usa, once the softest shade of pink, had both grown   
in lenght and darkened to a firey scarlet color.  
  
"Err... maybe we should get her some clothes, don`t you think?"   
whispered Usagi to her fiancee. It then occured to everyone that the   
shock of seeing the small lady transformed in this way had diverted   
attention from the fact that she was standing there totally nude.   
They all blushed, and Mamoru covered his eyes with his hand, as did   
Ikuko and Kenji.  
  
"I`ll let you handle this, my little bunny, okay?" said Mamoru who   
walked out of the room.  
  
"Okay small... err... scarlet lady, I`ll lend you some of my   
clothes... we seem to have the same measurements, it would appear."   
said Usagi.  
  
After a few minutes, Usagi came down the stairs along with a girl   
whom her friends could have sworn was her twin sister. Dressed with   
a light red blouse and skirt matching her hair that she had chosen   
to wear in the same style her mother once had, she was a stunningly   
gorgeous young woman.  
  
"Hello everyone." she said to the stunned audience. "You all called   
me Chibi-Usa, or small lady, but now I`m too tall for that... from   
now, I`m Usako, the scarlet lady!" she declared amidst a sea of   
"oooh" and "aaah" from her friends.  
  
Seeing Makoto crying silently on the sofa, she went to her. Usako   
knelt next to her on the floor and took her hands. "Usagi told me   
what happened, I`m really sorry about your loss." she said.  
  
"Sometimes I feel like I was meant to live my whole life alone..."   
Makoto said in between two sobs.  
  
"I know I shouldn`t tell you this but..." started Usako, looking at   
Setsuna who nodded to give her consent to what the scarlet lady was   
about to reveal. "...in the future, my future, you are NOT alone...   
you found your true love, and have been living the most beautiful   
love story that you could ever have dreamed of." said Usako.  
  
"Really?" asked Makoto, stopping to cry.  
  
"Yes, it will take time for you to heal this wound, but... you will   
learn to love again." she said.  
  
Makoto then hugged Usako, releasing all the tears she still held   
back. It felt good to let go of her pain like this, because she knew   
her friends would always be there for her.  
  
"So where do we go from here?" wondered Haruka.  
  
"The dark empire has completed their energy draining web... the   
temperatures are still dropping fast all over the world... I just   
don`t know what to do next." said Ami with a profound sigh.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	32. Raging Heartquake

By Yohann DeSabrais   
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
Kaolinite couldn`t believe what she just heard. She knew well she   
had the favor of professor Tomoe in the daemon egg research lab,   
and that was bound to attract some conflict with the other members   
of the Witches 5. But that one of them would go as far as trying to   
kill her to get her place, this just seemed insane.  
  
"Trust me, Kaolinite." whispered Villuy. "I heard the others talking,   
and pretty soon you may end up on the wrong side of a firewall when   
an explosion happens."  
  
"That`s ludicrous. None of them would go THAT far." replied Kaolinite,   
passing her fingers in her long black hair.  
  
"Oh yeah? And what would you think of that anonymous letter in your   
locker, along with all those snails?" said Villuy.  
  
Kaolinite couldn`t argue with that; she had indeed received a   
threatening letter, and had done her best not to let it get to her,   
but still...  
  
"So? What can I do if I don`t know who sent me that letter?!"  
  
"Well... I heard Mimete call you snail lady behind your back on   
several occasions."  
  
"MIMETE?!? You`re crazy, she`s much too passive and submissive to do   
anything so bold! You`re just wasting my time, Villuy, go away."   
said Kaolinite who didn`t care to hear more of the witche`s rantings.   
At that moment, the intruder alarm went off.  
  
"Someone`s inside- past our first perimeter defenses! Incredible!!!"   
said Tomoe`s assistant.  
  
Villuy couldn`t believe it either. "Who could be stupid enough to   
attack us head-on?!?" she asked in disbelief.  
  
"Someone with a death wish, that`s who!" said Eudial as she walked   
by them and revved up her fire buster. "Let`s show the intruder who`s   
queen of the hill!!!"  
  
A sickening odor of putrefaction invaded the laboratory, causing   
awful bouts of nausea to all those present. The lights faded   
unnaturaly, bringing an atmosphere of dread to the already gloomy   
workshop.  
  
"What`s going on?!?" screamed Mimete.  
  
"The dread lord of darkness has entered your lair, treacherous   
snakes!" said a loud growling voice behind Eudial. She spun around   
to meet the source of the taunt, but out of the darkness came a flash   
of cold steel which struck her squarely in the chest, rupturing her   
arteries and digging deep inside her left lung. She died instantly,   
her final gurgling sound made inaudible by the clanking noise of her   
falling fire weapon.  
  
As the dread knight took full form in his golden armor and battle   
axe, Mimete screamed with all the strenght of the uncontrollable   
terror which held her soul in its twisted claws. Villuy froze in   
fear, incapable of moving a single muscle.  
  
"Ronmar, first knightmare of the spheres, has arrived. Fear me.   
Loathe me. Die by my hands." growled the dread knight, his red eyes   
flashing under the visor of his golden helm.  
  
Kaolinite was just as afraid as her collegues, but she wasn`t going   
to let that monstrosity kill her or any other of her subordinates-   
she made a run for it, plunging forward with all the speed her body   
could muster, running by the hulking warrior to reach the weapons   
cabinet behind him.  
  
He was faster.  
  
Kaolinite`s run was brutally halted by the horrid pain of her right   
side being ripped apart from her armpit to her waist by the sharp   
blade of his axe. She fell limply to the ground, her warm blood   
spurting on the cold concrete floor and mingling with Eudial`s whom   
she could see in front of her. Eudial`s eyes were lifeless and her   
skin was beginning to take a frozen expression of death.  
  
As her vision blurred and darkened, she could hear the last screams   
of Villuy and Mimete who met the same tragic fate as she and Eudial   
had.  
  
Everything went black.  
  
Kaolinite woke up screaming, again. She had the nightmare of Ronmar`s   
attack upon the Witches 5 hideout, as she had for every single night   
since that moment when she woke up in the morgue. It had been a   
miracle that her system had somehow managed to restart itself after   
over two hours of being clinically dead, and an even greater one that   
the pathologist took a fifteen minute break before starting her   
autopsy.  
  
It had taken seven ten-hours long surgeries to mend her severed bones   
and muscles, and for all the damage done to her by that blow she   
had received, the doctors hadn`t found any arteries to be cut at   
all. Her lucky star had been watching on her, or so she thought.  
  
She quickly realized that her old life had been destroyed: Tomoe and   
all of her old associates were dead now, and so was the young Hotaru   
whom she loved as though she were her own daughter. Her health had   
also been shattered, as the horrid wound had never properly healed   
iself despite the best medical care her fortune could buy. Her chest   
was being constantly wracked with bursts of intolerable spasms. Her   
only solace was to be found in the pain killers which she took in   
amounts that no humans should dare attempt to consume. Despite the   
fact that her doctor warned her against it, Kaolinite just keep in   
swallowing the pills she had become addicted to, because she didn`t   
care.  
  
She swallowed another couple of pills, then washed it down with a   
swig of jamaican rhum. Her stomach felt like it had just been   
incinerated by a scorching fireball as it felt the ravages of her   
ever growing ulcer- she was going down in a descending spiral of   
self-destruction but she didn`t give a damn.  
  
She`d live just long enough to destroy the monster who took away   
the man who had given her a chance to prove her talents, the only   
man who had treated her with respect... the one man she   
had ever loved, and had been taken away from her before she could   
tell him just how she felt.  
  
Incapable of sleeping, she picked up a clipboard that she kept close   
by at all times, studying professor Tomoe`s notes on daemon egg   
creation. She was going to improve on his designs, although this   
would prove immensely difficult. No one had a grasp on daemon eggs   
processing like the deceased scientist. If there was a way to do it,   
however, she`d find it.  
  
The familiar rush of alcohol mixed with pain supressors began to kick   
in, giving Kaolinite a momentary respite from the pain in her chest.   
If only it could heal the pain in her heart, she thought... tired   
and heartbroken, she cried herself to an all too short and agitated   
sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 32  
  
RAGING HEARTQUAKE  
  
  
Sitting silently in her appartment, Makoto reflected back upon the   
tragic death of her lover Ghangoroth a week before. She felt the   
soft fabric of his folded cape in her hands, dragged her fingers   
along the sculpted gold button marked with the greek letter psi. It   
had taken six senshi over two hours to pry his frozen body out of   
the ice block created by Dokuryo.  
  
In all her sadness, she had barely noticed upon returning to Tokyo   
that she couldn`t walk after transforming to her normal self again.   
Crying herself out of tears on Usagi`s couch, she hadn`t noticed   
anything around her for quite a while.  
  
With a week gone by, her life was slowly returning to something more   
normal. She had adapted her place to fit her changing needs; even if   
her legs were paralyzed, she was intent on keeping her independance.   
It was useful in her efforts to attain this goal that she could at   
any given time transform into Sailor Jupiter and temporarily regain   
her ability to walk. She was spending more and more time in her soul   
powered form as the days went by, and she often answered the door to  
her visiting senshi friends in this fashion. It surprised them at   
first, but they were getting used to it.  
  
In the empty appartment she had dreamed of sharing with the man who   
had introduced himself to her as Xavier, only the faint background   
noises of the busy Tokyo streets could be heard. Even though Makoto   
was all cried out now, she felt a terrible hole inside, one she felt   
would never be filled again despite Usako`s reassurance.  
  
She cried again, her tears wetting the soft cloth of the cape.  
  
* * *  
  
She was turning around many heads of young boys, even though she was   
much older than any one of them... or their great-grandparents, for   
that matter. With her long bright red ponytails floating in the   
subzero wind, Usako was a new woman whose seemingly eighteen years   
old body was hiding her true age: upwards of 900 years.  
  
She had begun to change her lifestyle according to her newfound   
maturity, although many of the aspects of her former self would   
probably be lost for good.  
  
This one was a case in point: a young girl who was Chibi-Usa`s best   
friend, Momoko. The eight year old girl hadn`t seen her best friend   
in over a week now, and had a look of sadness to her face that made   
the scarlet lady feel bad. In the rush of soul power that had   
triggered her sudden growth, she had forgotten to consider the   
repercussions of the small lady disappearing for good.  
  
Usako hesitated for a second before approaching Momoko who was   
standing on the street corner waiting for her bus to arrive... would   
she just be reopening a bleeding wound unnecessarily, or could she   
actually do her old friend some good? She didn`t have to ponder this   
matter for long, Momoko turning around and noticing Usako staring at   
her. The ressemblance was way too striking to ignore, and the young   
girl came to her.  
  
"Excuse me, are you related to a girl named Tsukino Chibi-Usa?" she   
asked.  
  
"Yes..." said Usako, hesitating as to what to say next. "I`m her   
big sister Usako."  
  
Momoko smiled faintly. "Do you know where Chibi-Usa is? I tried to   
call her at her aunt Ikuko`s house, but she`s never there..." she   
said.  
  
"She had to leave in a hurry back home... she`s sorry she couldn`t   
reach you before she returned but she wanted me to tell you how much   
she loved having you as a friend." said Usako, smiling back to her   
small friend.  
  
"If you see her, can you tell her I`ll miss her?"  
  
"Sure thing, Momoko, I`ll do that." replied Usako. As she turned   
around to leave, Momoko took her hand and stopped her.  
  
"Usako... will I see you again?" she asked.  
  
Scarlet lady could see the loneliness in the young girl`s eyes, and   
it touched her like she never imagined that a single stare could.  
  
"Of course... I`d love to be your friend." she replied.  
  
"I`m going to see a movie... would you like to come with me?"  
  
"Yeah, let`s do it!"   
  
The heavy and noisy bus arrived at their corner and stopped. The two   
girls got on board and left to reach a nearby movie theater.  
  
Maybe her new life wouldn`t be so difficult to adapt to after all.  
  
* * *  
  
Dokuryo was bored.  
  
It had been a week already since that hurried mission to replace the   
shattered aebonite crystal in the Osaka region, the most flamboyant   
success of the dark empire, as it had sealed the fate of earth by   
repairing the energy gathering network and providing more power to   
his lord Aebonite than any of Beryl`s minions had ever been able to   
collect. The senshi were helpless to find the operating base of the   
dark empire due to a clever trick devised by Ghangoroth, so no new   
mission had arisen that would require his talents.  
  
And so he laid in bed, sleeping in late as he had every single   
morning since that glorious triumph in which he was forced to kill   
his old friend Ghangoroth.  
  
"It wasn`t my fault, I was aiming Sailor Jupiter, he`s the one who   
wanted to protect her." he silently told himself, convincing the best   
he could his tortured conscience. Wasn`t it his ally Ghangoroth who   
had pulled him out of that toxic sewer line to give him a position   
of general in the new empire? Hadn`t he saved his life before in the   
battle of the moon kingdom???  
  
He tried to go back to sleep, ignoring this annoying voice in his   
head.  
  
"Are you awake, Dokuryo?" said a soft voice behind his bedroom   
door.  
  
"You can come in, Thorelia." said Dokuryo, pulling the bedsheet to   
cover himself.  
  
The sculptress entered the room and closed the door behind her. She   
was wearing a brand new mask which she had worked on carefully for   
many hours, one she hoped would please her friend.  
  
"You have a lovely face today, Thorelia." he said. She blushed.  
  
"Thank you for saying so. I had no youma to make in over three days,   
so I had all the time to make myself a few extras... although   
Aebonite told me I should have my real flesh face any day now. I   
can`t wait... finally I can be with you without having to fear my   
features might melt down and fall on your clothes... or your   
scales..." she said, caressing the bare hardened skin of the toxic   
dragon. He shivered and pulled back, using the bedsheet as though   
it were a shield. "Why are you afraid? we`ve kissed before..."  
  
"Yes, but... you`ve never seen what my body really looks like..." he   
replied, looking away.  
  
"What about your body? What could possibly be worse than this curse   
Beryl gave me out of jealousy for my beauty???"  
  
"There`s something I never told anyone, something only Ghangoroth   
knew for reading it in my mind and which he swore to keep secret...   
I`m not really a man... or a woman, for that matter..."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I`m androgynous. I have neither the sexual attributes of a male or   
a female." he said, finally daring to show his body to the woman he   
had come to trust with his life.  
  
She was shocked to see that he told the truth; although he had the   
squarish shoulder and large muscle mass of a man, he had no other   
visible distinction as to his gender, if he even had one.  
  
"I chose to consider myself a male because my deep voice fit the   
description." he said, covering himself as quickly as he had striped   
down. "If you feel too repulsed to ever touch me again, I`ll   
understand."  
  
"Don`t ever say anything like that again!" the sculptress replied,   
throwing her arms around his shoulders and kissing him passionately.   
With this embrace, all his self-loathing vanished in a few seconds,   
never to return.  
  
She certainly knew how to make him feel good.  
  
* * *  
  
"Come on, there has to be an explanation, it doesn`t make any sense!"   
said Ami to her laptop.  
  
She had been working for over nine hours straight now, guzzling cup   
after cup of dark coffee to stave off sleep. The image was right   
there for her to see on the screen, she could tap the satellite   
network and use a special program of hers to monitor the flux of   
earth`s geothermal energy; that was how she noticed the location of   
the shattered aebonite crustal to begin with... but where all this   
energy going???  
  
It would make sense that it was being channeled to a single   
collection point where their enemies of the dark empire would surely   
be found, but as the energy lines gathered more and more power from   
one redirection point to the next in the planetwide web, there should   
be substancial increases in powerline intensity, as well as major   
surge points where two or more lines met and merged into a single   
one.  
  
Then why was she staring at an evenly distributed power intensity   
map? Why weren`t there any surge points or increasingly strong lines?  
  
"This makes no sense..." repeated Ami out loud.  
  
Her mother walked into the kitchen where Ami had been working since   
nine o'clock the previous evening and figured her daughter must have   
been there since then. That was just the sort of thing Ami was   
capable of doing.  
  
"Ami, have you had ANY sleep last night?"  
  
"No, I must figure this out before it`s too late... temperatures   
keep dropping worldwide, the earth will freeze if the senshi don`t   
stop the dark empire!!!" she replied, too tired to hide her growing   
frustration.  
  
"Sweetie, you`ll never figure this out or defeat my former allies   
if you`re too tired to think straight. I`m ordering you to get some   
sleep right now."  
  
"But mom..."  
  
"I said now, I won`t take no for an answer, young lady!!!"  
  
Ami admitted defeat, because she knew that her mother never could be   
made to change her mind when she called her "young lady". She yawned   
loudly as she dragged herself to her room and barely had the strength   
to remove her clothes before collapsing heavily on her waterbed. She  
was so tired that instead of neatly folding her clothes to put them   
away, she just tossed them aside beside her bed like Minako had been   
trying to teach her for weeks.  
  
No sooner had her eyes closed that she was already having dreams.  
  
Inside a very large courtyard of what seemed like military barracks,   
a long row of soldiers was moving in step and passing in front of her   
without as much as noticing her. A second row was coming from another   
direction, and met the first row under a large arch under which both   
rows came side to side and walked on forward in the same direction...   
but because the arch was not large enough to accomodate a two men   
wide row, the arch actually SHRUNK them half-size so that the total   
width of the two side by side rows of half-size soldiers were no   
larger than a single row of full-sized ones! And this double row met   
another one under a second arch, shrinking again to accomodate the   
full number of soldiers in the merging rows, though without   
increasing the total width of the forming parade of soldiers.  
  
Ami woke up suddenly after having slept a mere fifteen minutes.   
Something clicked in her mind, something so marvelous in its   
ingeniosity, so astounding in its simplicity that she could only   
laugh uncontrollably from the sheer mental shock of the epiphany   
she`d just reached.  
  
Throwing on her wrinkled clothes, she ran back to the kitchen where   
her mother protested, insisting that she should rest immediately.  
  
"In just a minute, mom, I have to check this first before it slips   
my mind..." she replied, punching in several buttons to alter her   
detector program.  
  
After a few seconds, the compressed energy waves revealed their   
cleverly hidden secret to Ami as she finally witnessed the fearsome   
beauty of the earth`s energy drain by Aebonite. All of it was being   
redirected towards the north pole somewhere, although it would take   
several hours to pinpoint the exact location.  
  
"I did it, mom, I..." Ami said, dropping in her mother`s arms totally   
exhausted.  
  
"Yes, Ami, I knew you`d do it." she said, smiling as she took her   
sleeping daughter to her bedroom.  
  
* * *  
  
Adjusting his sleeping cycle to the land of the midnight sun had   
proven quite challenging to the most recent addition of the dark   
empire high brass. Tossing and turning in his bed, he just couldn`t   
get any sleep as his internal clock simply refused to adjust to the   
time difference.  
  
Besides, it was getting late, and his splitting headache would surely   
refuse him any sleep anyhow. So he got up and dressed himself in the   
tight black leather clothing he`d been given by his lord Aebonite.   
Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he couldn`t help but wonder   
why he was wearing this strange necklace that just wouldn`t come   
off. Not that he minded; he found it rather sexy, and it felt good   
on his skin...  
  
"I think I`ll go for a walk... I`ll bet Tokyo is beautiful in the   
dead of winter." he thought.  
  
Using the dark powers that flowed through him like poison in his   
veins, he opened a dark portal that glimmered in black vileness.  
  
He stepped through and he was gone.  
  
* * *  
  
"Well, this is it. The complex is finally complete, after over two   
years and a six months interruption in the construction work." said   
the forman who had been hired to oversee the final stage of   
construction for the huge structure that had been named Poldzer   
Triangle.  
  
"Why was construction halted anyway?" wondered the electrician who   
screwed in the final power outlet.  
  
"Remember the Tomoe massacre? It was that guy`s holding who had   
ordered this place. When he was killed this summer, the workers got   
scared, saying that this place was haunted by his spirit and those   
of the girls who died with him."  
  
"I think that`s a load of crap, but if the workforce believes it,   
that`s enough to halt any efforts to finish up this place." said the   
electrician. "Well, that`s it, you can tell the new owners that they   
can take possession of their complex!"  
  
"I think they`re arriving just now." said the foreman, looking out   
the fourth floor window to the entrance where a luxurious limousine   
was pulling by. "I heard that they furnished the top floor of the   
main building already so they could come in discreetly before the   
official opening this week."  
  
They both looked down and saw a very large man step out. He had a   
very muscular frame, almost animalistic in shape, and he hid every   
inch of his skin with thick clothing, from the gloves on his hands   
to the shroud wrapped around his head. He helped out a frail looking   
teenage girl who moved slowly in a very uncertain way, relying on   
the large man for support every step of the way.  
  
"So have you heard who they are, by any chance?" asked the   
electrician who walked back to his toolbox to pick up his things.  
  
"No, only that she`s the rich heir to some dead industrialist...   
didn`t catch the name, though. She`s very keen on privacy, that`s   
for sure."  
  
"I doesn`t matter, anyway. I just want to be out of here fast, this   
place is giving me the creeps like you wouldn`t believe."  
  
"I thought you didn`t believe in spirits?" wondered the foreman.  
  
"I don`t. I just have a very bad feeling about this place, that`s   
all."  
  
* * *  
  
The lobby elevator doors opened to Fenris and Crystallite, letting   
them in. Fenris took a small crystal key and turned it in the control   
panel, allowing the elevator to reach the top floor.  
  
The floor numbers flew by on the indicator while the cabin steadily   
made its way up.  
  
"We`re almost there, my lady." said the powerful manwolf to the weak   
girl resting against his muscular body.  
  
"Perfect. I have a feeling we left the fortress just in time." she   
said, her hushed voice barely audible over the elevator motor huming.  
  
"If it`s not to bold of me to ask... why did we leave? Do you not   
trust your husband`s plan?"  
  
"Of course I trust him. I trust him to fail, that`s all. The senshi   
will soon collide with him, and I don`t want to be there when it   
happens. He can`t keep his location hidden for long... and I have my   
own plans to think about. Did you get word from Black Baron yet?"  
  
"He had a message sent to us, my lady. He will arrive shortly in a   
week or two."  
  
"Good. My plan is going along splendidly..." commented Crystallite.   
She reached inside a secret pocket on the loose waist of her robe   
and pulled out a set of twelve cards.  
  
"What are these?" asked Fenris who removed the thick shroud around   
his head that was getting much too hot to bear.  
  
"Those were Gallagher`s. They monitor the progress of the scouts on   
their progress towards their ascension to the senshi soul power."   
she replied.  
  
On the cards were the images of nine senshi, Sailor Moon, Mars,   
Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus, Venus, Mercury, Saturn and their latest   
addition Sailor Terra, the recently matured Usako.  
  
"We`re almost there. Only three more to go." she said, smiling.  
  
* * *  
  
Her heart was like a ship at sea during a monsoon. Laurella walked   
aimlessly in the red daylight of dawn, not minding the freezing   
winter air that bit right through her coat. Her feet were slowly   
losing all sensation but she didn`t care. She just wanted to be   
alone with her thoughts, most of them concerning her missing   
boyfriend Shingo whom Makoto had revealed to have been brainwashed   
by the dark empire into becoming the Malachite Warlord.  
  
"We can bring him back, girl, we did it a few times already for   
Mamoru!" Usagi had told her to cheer her up, but she couldn`t help   
but worry. What were those bastards doing to him? What horrors had   
they put him through to break his will? And mostly... had this youma   
cat bitch put her dirty paws on him? That last one was really   
burning her up.  
  
Without noticing, her aimless walk led her to go where Shingo and   
her had shared their first kiss, a small park with old swings where   
they`d stopped and talked for hours about their memories from the   
moon kingdom. It was after that night that Laurella had stopped   
having the same dream of her death over and over and began to   
remember the good times she had with her mentor Kitechnum Jendra.   
She sat in the same frost covered swing she was sitting in at that  
moment, staring at the empty swing where Shingo should have been.  
  
A tear came down her cheek, freezing up halfway down her face.  
  
"I`ll get you back, Kit, I swear, or I`ll die in the process..." she   
whispered.  
  
She then lifted her eyes and saw a man dressed in black near the   
edge of the park... SHINGO! It was him!!! This was her chance, she   
had to take it!  
  
Lost in thought, the corrupt Tsukino Shingo was suddenly distracted   
by the sound of a girl screaming her transformation words, turning   
under his eyes into Sailor Jendra. He looked at her run towards him,   
but he did nothing to hide, run or transform into his battle armor.  
  
He wanted to talk with her.  
  
"Shingo, you came here... do you remember this place?" she asked   
him.  
  
"No, not really, should I?" he replied, his evil eyes flashing   
malevolence.  
  
"This.. is where we first kissed... I still remember the night, it   
was july fourth, under the soft moonlight... it was the most   
wonderful thing that had ever happened to me in my wretched   
existence!"  
  
"I may not remember you... or this place... but you do feel familiar   
somehow." he said, doubt showing in his eyes. Laurella felt her hopes   
rising, she was getting through to him!!!  
  
"Try to remember the times we shared... the love we have... you`re   
the one who helped unlock my most horrible suppressed memories! I   
never loved anyone else but you!!!" she pleaded.  
  
Shingo showed love in his eyes for just a second- then his collar   
jolted him with a strong burst of dark energy, returning his traits   
to the twisted expression of evil contempt he had before.  
  
"Stay away from me, girl, I am the Malachite Warlord, I owe love to   
no one!!!" he snarled, pushing away Sailor Jendra.  
  
"But I love you, you can`t just ignore that!" she said, more tears   
going down her cheeks.  
  
"Stay away from me, Laurella... I`m evil, don`t you see?!" he said,   
running away from her with self-doubt written all over his face.  
  
"He called me Laurella..." she thought. She quickly activated the   
emergency senshi summon signal on her comm-watch and ran after him-  
she was going to return him to the side of good!  
  
She saw him open a portal and disappear in it... without a second   
thought, she jumped in just quickly enough to follow him inside   
before it disappeared as well.  
  
They were gone from Tokyo.  
  
* * *  
  
The senshi received the alert signal, but could do little about it-   
they got a few seconds` worth of it, then it cut short.  
  
Ami`s mother woke her up when she received a call from her friends   
saying that Laurella was gone and that no one knew where she was.   
Akane knew from what Ami had told her that this was surely senshi   
business, which was why she got her out of bed.  
  
Fortunately for Sailor Mercury, Jendra`s watch was still sending out   
the alert signal. She was able to easily track it down... to the   
north pole!!!  
  
"Oh boy, I think the dark empire might have taken for home the old   
hideout Beryl used three years ago..." she commented as her laptop   
pinpointed the exact location at D-point. "So THAT`s where it   
was..."  
  
"I thought you went there before..." asked her mother.  
  
"Yes, but we took a space warp there, and my computer couldn`t   
handle the strain and figure out exactly where we were... and   
moreover I smashed it to kill a demon girl."  
  
"This time around, you know where it is."  
  
"Yeah, I have to tell the others right away, we must save Laurella!"  
  
* * *  
  
She`d taken space warp portals before, she knew how it was supposed   
to feel- smooth, fast and comfortable... but this one, created by a   
minion of the dark empire, was anything but that. The dark energies   
concentrated into a tunnel had made her sick... she fought with all   
her strenght, but it was no use. When she arrived on the other side,   
she threw up. Her stomach twisted itself violently in a desperate   
attempt to reject all the negativity she`d picked up along the way   
to the dark empire fortress.  
  
Spitting out the revolting taste of stomach acids in her mouth as   
best she could, Laurella looked around trying to figure where she   
was. It was awfully dark in there, wherever there was.  
  
Her eyes slowly became accustomed to the faint amount of light, so   
she picked out the shape of Shingo; he was down on his knees,   
holding his head in his hands. He was obviously feeling a lot of   
pain.  
  
No sooner did she try and get close to him that a large floodlight   
appeared from nowhere, putting both her and Shingo in the spotlight.   
He got up and laughed, and Sailor Jendra realized that she was in the   
very throne room of Beryl, the one Usagi had described from her   
confrontation against the brainwashed Prince Endymion... talk about   
history repeating itself!  
  
She also noticed someone sitting in the throne, a tall, slim man with   
long dark blue hair tied in a ponytail except for a few strands going   
down over his face. He wore a very elaborate dark empire uniform   
decorated with pure, untreated aebonite crystal.  
  
"You`re Aebonite, aren`t you?" she asked, doing her best to keep her   
composure regardless of the fact that she`d just spilled the entire   
contents of her stomach a few seconds before.  
  
"Quite correct, child... so glad you could join us in this little   
impromptu get together!" he said, lifting a glass of blod red wine   
to salute his guest.  
  
In front of her, Shingo`s armor covered his body and turned him once   
again into the Malachite Warlord.  
  
"Shingo, listen to me... you can beat this, you were almost there   
five minutes ago!!!" she said.  
  
"You`re wasting your time, dear... this was nothing more than a   
setup to get you here." said the warlord in a mocking tone.  
  
"Indeed it was. His loyalties are mine alone... show him your eyes,   
my servant." ordered Lord Aebonite to the warrior. He took off his   
helmet, allowing Laurella to see his eyes that burned with   
unforgiving hatred directed towards her. Aebonite picked up a   
heavy black halberd resting against his throne and brought it to   
his lackey.  
  
"You see, dear Sailor Jendra, he`s not your boyfriend anymore. I   
own him, body..." he said, handing him over the dreadful weapon.   
"...mind..." he added, staring right into those hateful eyes and   
seeing there the undying devotion he programmed himself. "...and   
SOUL!"   
  
He then put his hand behind the warrior`s head, bringing him closer   
to him... and kissing his lips.  
  
Laurella felt her heart shatter when she saw them kiss, as the last   
remnant of hope she had of healing her lover was crushed mercilessly   
in the iron fist of Aebonite.  
  
When they separated their lips, Aebonite whispered something in   
his ear.  
  
"Kill her... but don`t damage the face, Thorelia wants it."  
  
* * *  
  
They had assembled quickly outside of Usagi`s house, which had   
become a new rallying point for the senshi since her parents knew   
of their powers.  
  
They had already transformed, Prince Endymion and all the senshi,   
even Sailor Mars who still seemed shaken up emotionaly; however,   
she had insisted on being there to give the dark empire the   
retribution it deserved. There was still one more senshi that would   
join them...  
  
Usako left the house and joined them outside, still untransformed.  
  
"So, is the grown Sailor Chibi-Moon ready for her first fight?"   
wondered Jupiter, happy to see her friend joining the effort.  
  
"I`m coming all right, but not as Chibi-Moon... TERRA SOUL POWER   
TRANSFORM!!!" she said.  
  
A flash of golden light surrounded her, removing her regular clothes   
and replacing them with the pink, red and black fuku of the mighty   
Sailor Terra, complete with the visor and metal guards like the   
other senshi. On her right tigh were the kanji which spelled CHIKYUU   
NO SENSHI, soldier of the earth. "Now I`m ready."  
  
"I`ve never been to Beryl`s hideout, so we`ll have to use a senshi   
teleport to get there." said Pluto, motioning her allies to form a   
circle. "Endymion has great power within himself, he will be able to   
come along this way."  
  
Taking each other`s hands and forming a circle, the senshi   
concentrated their power into forming a large bubble around them.   
A few seconds later, it shot upwards at a mind boggling speed and  
was already halfway across the globe towards D-point.  
  
* * *  
  
The warlord took the halberd well in hand and smiled wickedly as he   
tightened his grip around its shaft, thinking what he would do to   
Sailor Jendra. He looked at her, she had become broken, hopeless, a   
shadow of the warrior she used to be. All because her love had been   
crushed.  
  
"Shingo... Kit... listen to me, you can`t do this! We love each   
other!" she begged him, falling on her knees in helpless desperation.  
  
"Nonsense. I love my master Aebonite, and no one else... and I will   
please him by bringing him your severed head." he replied grimly,   
walking towards her and lifting up his weapon like a cobra getting   
ready to strike.  
  
"Then if you will not love me... then you must kill me!" she said,   
ripping up her suit to offer her bare chest to his blade. This   
unexpected move made him hesitate a second, as he hadn`t expected   
her to surrender her life in this manner. He looked at his master,   
unsure if he should proceed.  
  
Aebonite nodded to give his consent. "Do what you will." was what he   
read on his lips. He turned his attention back to Sailor Jendra.   
  
"I would die for our love... never doubt it for an instant." she   
said, tears flowing from her eyes.  
  
A long silent and tense moment of hesitation and doubt followed...   
then the warlord broke it with a few words.  
  
"I never did doubt that."  
  
With a savage scream, he brought down his weapon and struck Sailor   
Jendra, piercing her soft flesh and tearing the blade all the way   
through her chest, going right through her heart.  
  
She silently cried while her life slowly slipped away, the warm   
sticky blood dripping on her chest and back from the entry and exit   
wounds. Before she died, she found just enough strenght to look   
Shingo in the eyes and mutter "I love you".  
  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  



	33. Time of Prophecy

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Through the ozone filled outer atmosphere of the earth, a shooting   
ball of light flew across the emptiness at near light speed, bringing   
the senshi squadron to the north pole at D-point where they were   
going to face their enemies of the dark empire and reclaim their   
lost comarades Sailor Jendra and the Emerald Knight.  
  
The entire trip took mere seconds, the light sphere landng softly on   
the icy wasteland and then dissolving into nothing to leave its   
passengers to fight for their own lives and their friends` against   
an opponent the likes of which they could not even dare imagine.  
  
"That way, behind that snow dune!" said Mercury, looking at her   
laptop to check for the right direction to go, not bothering to take   
her eyes off the small digital screen.  
  
Without saying a word, Sailor Venus placed her finger under Mercury`s   
chin and slowly lifted her head until she could see the huge black   
fortress that was clearly visible despite the howling winds charged   
with cutting ice pellets.  
  
"Oh." she said, blushing in embarassment.  
  
"Let`s hurry, we don`t have much time!" said Sailor Moon, charging   
forward through the ice storm with a determination that would have   
made Luna proud.  
  
They all followed her, but stopped when Sailor Mars screamed in pain   
and collapsed, clutching her chest with both hands.  
  
"It`s... too late..." she said, feeling the same pain Laurella was   
experiencing as the Malachite Warlord`s halberd was impaled in her   
chest. "She`s already dead." she whispered.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLE OF LIFE: EPISODE 33  
  
TIME OF PROPHECY   
  
  
"You lose, young warrior." said the Malachite Warlord, holding his   
halberd solidly in place inside Jendra`s body, twisting it slowly to   
make the suffering that much more excrutiating.  
  
Darkness fell around her eyes, blurring her vision and filling her   
ears with a loud ringing sound that came from nowhere. She knew she   
was dying, and surrendered her existence to the merciful release of   
death. In that brief instant when she was on the threshold of passing   
into the great beyond, she saw the image of her murderer, the   
Malachite Warlord, but she did not feel anger or rage... she felt   
compassion for the man who had saved her from herself, she felt love   
for the sweet man she knew was buried deep under layers of corrupted   
false memories.  
  
She felt a spark of radiance cross over from over the dark beyond,   
sweep over her wounded soul and drag her right back into her body,   
filling it up with the most powerful energy she`d ever felt in this   
life or the previous one.  
  
Sailor Jendra`s inanimate body began glowing with blinding intensity,   
building up inside the shaft of the halberd that was piercing her   
chest side to side and invading the very armor that was covering   
Shingo`s body and made its way within the black collar.  
  
The halberd couldn`t take much of this; it slowly cracked along the   
blade, then the shaft, until the entire lenght of the waepon was as   
brittle as glass. It detonated violently, propelling the warlord   
backwards to the ground where his armor fractured in a thousand dark   
green pieces, which was immediately followed by the collar who did   
the same.  
  
"What the hell happened?!?" screamed Aebonite who didn`t expect   
this sudden turn of events to rob him his victory over the wretched   
girl.  
  
Sailor Jendra, her heart fully healed and her wounds closed, stood   
up. Her senshi fuku had the white and silver color scheme of the   
ancient Jendra honor guard, while her arms and chin guards were   
made of pure silver. Her visor had a metallic glint, and her right   
thigh showed the golden kanji readng NANAIRO NO SENSHI, soldier of   
rainbow colors.  
  
"Impossible! You should be DEAD!!!" he screamed violently, energy   
charging in his eyes. This wasn`t happening! The dead girl warrior   
was still living, more powerful than ever, and his loyal general   
had been defeated by her power, his mind purified of the dark power   
warping his thoughts.  
  
"You`re right, I was... for a moment. But the power of my love   
brought me back to life, as it has already done before. It`s the   
end of the line for you, Aebonite, your energy draining plan is   
finished." she said.  
  
"And you think you can stop me, girl? No way, no how... I have all   
the earth`s energy at my fingertips!" said Aebonite, a surge of raw   
power building up inside him. Laurella could feel it, he wasn`t   
lying... but she wouldn`t go down without a fight.  
  
"Oh great eternal, give me the sting of cutting storms, give me   
BLADEWIND!!!" she said, throwing her hand high in the air. A burst   
of multicolored light formed around it, concentrating itself into a   
diamond chakram, a thin circlet throwing weapon with a razor sharp   
outer edge. Before he could react, she threw it to Aebonite- he fell   
back in pain as the weapon grazed his face, then the chakram bounced   
on a wall and flew back to Sailor Jendra. As she looked at it, she   
saw that its outer side was coated in blood...  
  
Aebonite screamed in pain, holding his hand over his right eye.   
Blood was trickling between his fingers, staining his immaculate   
uniform. "My eye... MY EYE!!! You... bitch... you`ll die... for...   
this... and you`ll suffer a long time before you do!!!" blurted out   
the ruler of the empire of darkness, charging a bolt of power in his   
other hand and unleashing a deadly blast of power towards Jendra and   
Shingo. She threw herself over her lover to protect him from the   
lethal blast that was too large in size to dodge, shielding him with   
her own battered body.  
  
The loud shriek she let go as she took the brunt of the attack was   
like music to Aebonite`s ears.  
  
"I love to hear you scream..." he whispered, "DO IT AGAIN!!!"  
  
Another blast followed, even stronger. Then another one. And another   
one. Aebonite`s laughter mixed with Jendra`s screaming of agony in a   
dreadful symphony of suffering.  
  
When she stopped screaming, Aebonite halted his brutal onslaught. He   
hoped he hadn`t killed her too fast... he wanted to hear he scream   
some more before he put an end to her life. He had a wicked grin when   
he saw her stir, then crawl in an effort to stand up again. Oh, this   
was too good. He was like a cat playing with a mouse before eating   
it...  
  
Forgetting the pain of his slashed eye, he placed his hands together   
and started charging up power for another round of energy waves, one   
he knew would kill them both. He looked at Sailor Jendra- her fuku   
was torn up in many places, her guards and visor were cracked and she   
was bleeding all over, but still she had this stubborn determination   
in her eyes.  
  
"What made you think you even had a chance?" Aebonite asked her.  
  
"I didn`t. But you never get anywhere without taking chances..." she   
replied. Suddenly, she rose her hands in the air and began spinning   
around as though she hadn`t been wounded at all. Aebonite was   
surprised to feel this sudden surge of power inside Jendra which   
seemed to come out of nowhere, forming seven rainbow colored spheres   
around her. Strong bursts of color lights spurted out of those   
spheres, spinning insanely fast around her and merging into a single   
focus point between her raised hands.  
  
"TIAMAT POLYCHROMATIC DISINTEGRATOR!!!" she yelled.  
  
Seven colors became one. One color became none.  
  
* * *  
  
A huge explosion rocked the dark empire fortress, shaking the ground   
violently and sending the senshi down as they lost balance.  
  
"What the hell was that?" asked Sailor Moon, getting up and removing   
the snow stuck in her visor.  
  
"I`m not sure... I think it was Sailor Jendra." said Sailor Mars.  
  
"Didn`t you just say she was dead?!?" wondered Jupiter.  
  
"Yeah, but... the pain is gone, and this detonation had her feeling   
to it, somehow." replied Mars.  
  
"One thing`s for sure... Aebonite`s not in full control of the   
situation anymore... now`s our chance to strike!" said Venus.  
  
"Yeah, let`s destroy him and finish this quick!" agreed Uranus.  
  
They resumed their race towards the fortress from which now came a   
thick cloud of billowing black smoke.  
  
* * *  
  
Amidst the collapsed walls and the large chunks of the destroyed   
ceiling, the battered but unbowed Sailor Jendra arose from the   
debris, a large smile on her face. She had faced her worst enemy   
and had triumphed over him. Her great love Shingo, the reincarnated   
Kitechnum Jendra, had been freed from the mind warping treatment   
that had turned him into the evil Malachite Warlord.  
  
As she pulled her boyfriend from the smoking ruins, she looked at   
her senshi fuku. Although it was torn and ripped all over, it was   
nonetheless a symbol of great pride, the sign of her love vanquishing   
all obstacles and elevating her soul one step further towards   
illumination.  
  
"Huh... what... happened?" mumbled Shingo, regaining consciousness.  
  
"Your ordeal is over, kit, you`re free!" replied Laurella, kneeling   
next to him and kissing his lips softly. She felt once again this   
magic go between them, this wonderful feeling of belonging together   
regardless of the obstacles that fate might throw in their way.  
  
"This place..." said Shingo, looking around and seeing the monstrous   
Metalia statue still standing proudly amidst the smoking rubble,   
"It`s that place where Usagi rescued Endymion from Beryl, isn`t it?   
We`re in the arctic, aren`t we?"  
  
"Yes, we are. And just like your sister, I pulled you from the   
clutches of darkness..." replied Laurella, a tear of joy rolling   
on her cheek.  
  
Unfortunately for them, the trial by fire wasn`t over just yet. A   
loud rumbling sound echoed in the half-destroyed fortress, making   
the ground shake under their feet.  
  
"That can`t be good..." thought Laurella.  
  
As if on cue, a huge explosion rocked a rubble pile near the base of   
the huge statue, sending a shower of small rock pieces all around.   
When the dust cleared, Aebonite stood right there, in all his   
monstrous might. His once spotless clothes were no more than   
tattered rags, his shining aebonite jewelry ripped off his chest,   
his cape torn to ribbons, his uniform soiled by the blood leaking   
from his slashed right eye.  
  
Intuitively, Sailor Jendra placed herself in front of the   
defenseless Shingo, ready to act as a shield once again.  
  
"How much does it take to kill you, monster?" she asked.  
  
"More than you alone can muster, I`m afraid..." replied Aebonite, a   
murderous glint in his eyes.  
  
"Then maybe we should even out the odds?" answered the voice of   
Sailor Moon. All three of them looked to the source of this challenge   
and saw the silhouettes of ten feminine warriors and one male knight.  
  
"Am I glad to see you all here! I could use more firepower right   
about now!" said Jendra.  
  
"Yes, the fighters of love and justice are here, Sailor Jendra, and   
we intend to put an end to this madness once and for all!" added   
Sailor Mars.  
  
"Sailor senshi... I have a nickname for you girls..." said Aebonite,   
a large charge of blueish energy surging from the mouth of the   
Metalia statue and charging Aebonite. "...TARGET PRACTICE!"  
  
Lifting his hands up, streaking bolts of energy shooting from his   
fingers and narrowly missing the senshi who retaliated immediately.   
While Endymion leaped for Shingo and took him away to safety, eleven   
power attacks were unleashed at once.  
  
"LUNAR SOUL POWER!"  
  
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"  
  
"WORLD SHACKING!"  
  
"DEEP SUBMERGE!"  
  
"SATURN WINGS OF FURY!"  
  
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"  
  
"BURNING MANDALA!"  
  
"FLAMING HEART ATTACK!"  
  
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"  
  
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!"  
  
"DEAD SCREAM!"  
  
All eleven blasts screeched forward, connecting with an invisible   
obstacle surrounding the all powerful lord Aebonite. Thus deflected,   
they did not as much as scratch him.  
  
"That`s not possible!!!" said Venus.  
  
"We should have obliterated him!!!" added Uranus.  
  
"Indeed you should... but no such luck, as I have all the earth`s   
power in my grasp... thanks to YOU, Sailor Moon!" taunted Aebonite.  
  
"You`re lying, I`d never help you!" she protested.  
  
"Is that so? Then why did you let this trinket of yours lying   
around???" said Aebonite, pointing to the statue whose outer layer   
was cracking from the senshi onslaught. As the rock surface was   
falling apart, the statue revealed itself to be nothing else than a   
gigantic piece of aebonite mineral collecting the totally of the   
earth`s natural energy field. Deep within the pillar of aebonite, the   
senshi could see a dark shape whose form was all too familiar.  
  
"It`s the master crystal of the entire network!!!" realized Mercury.  
  
"Look, inside that thing, it`s..." started to say Jupiter.  
  
"...my moon crescent wand!" blurted out Sailor Moon.  
  
"CORRECT!!!" screamed Aebonite. "You left it behind after you   
destroyed Beryl, and I quickly realized that even though I couldn`t   
use it directly, it still had the capacity to redirect infinite   
amounts of power, the likes of which will ensure my final victory...   
and now, you all die!!!"  
  
A huge wave of energy surged from Aebonite`s body, knocking down all   
the girls. They tried to regain their footing quickly, attempting to   
combine their powers into deadlier attacks.  
  
Venus`s love-me-chain charged forth, piercing Mercury`s bubbles after   
being engulfed in the lightning of Jupiter.  
  
"COLD THUNDER SPEAR!!!"  
  
Using all at once their deep submerge, world shaking and dead scream,   
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto fused their three power bolts into a single   
strike with exponentially increased strenght.  
  
"SCREAMING TIDAL WAVE!!!"  
  
Finally, Mars, Terra, Moon and Jendra fused together their fire soul,   
flaming heart, lunar soul power and chromatic blast into a searing   
cone of flame whose colors kept on shifting as its energitic   
frequency randomly shifted to prevent its target from effectively   
shielding itself.  
  
"SOULFIRE PRISM!!!"  
  
Three strikes surged. Three monstrous detonations followed. One evil   
laughter erupted as Lord Aebonite stood unbeaten.  
  
"He`s too strong... we need something greater than anything ever   
seen in this solar system..." said Sailor Moon. "We need... THE   
MESSIAH!!!"  
  
"Have you gone loopy, Sailor Moon? It`s just a prophecy, and besides   
we don`t even have all eleven senshi anyway!" argued Mars.  
  
"Yes we do." said Pluto. "But we`ll need a distraction, though." she   
added.  
  
"Leave that to me!" said Jupiter, summoning her sacred weapon, the   
jade warhammer Mjolnir. She lifted it up in the air, mystical   
lightning charging in it as she prepared to use her ultimate attack,   
the greatest thunder blast ever unleashed upon the face of the earth.  
  
She struck down her hammer with a mighty battle cry, ripping apart   
the ground in front of her and releasing wave after wave of solid   
lightning walls carrying huge chunks of rocks in a relentless   
assault of thunder and earth.  
  
"SUPREME THUNDERQUAKE DISRUPTOR!!!"  
  
Despite his shielding, Aebonite was nevertheless blown backwards like   
a puppet whose strings had been cut off.  
  
"Quickly, while he`s helpless!" screamed Jupiter.  
  
In a golden surge of light, Sailor Pluto`s form changed from her   
ancient scout uniform into the purple and indigo fuku of the Pluto   
sailor senshi, with the forearm and chinguards as well as the visor   
just like her ten allies received in their soul ascension. On her   
right thigh were the golden kanji reading JIKAN NO SENSHI, soldier   
of time.  
  
In her hands, the time key transformed itself into a bladed battle   
staff made from solid garnet, her orb mounted gloriously on top of   
it. "With this eleventh sacred weapon, the mighty Eternity, we may   
finally call forth our holiest of guides, she who will guide us to   
the summit of our potential... the messiah of legend!"  
  
"Pluto... how did you manage to achive soul power like this, in   
this precise moment?" wondered Sailor Terra.  
  
"I always had it. Remember I`ve spent centuries alone guarding the   
gate of time, which gave me all the time I needed to reflect on the   
nature of my soul." explained Pluto. "And now, let us use our   
weapons together!!!"  
  
One by one, the senshi summoned their weapons, putting them in   
contact so that their power may be combined as one.  
  
"ETERNITY!"  
  
"DREADBANE!"  
  
"SOULSTAR!"  
  
"HEAVEN`S WRATH!"  
  
"MONSOON!"  
  
"MJOLNIR!"  
  
"DEADSHOT!"  
  
"BLADEWIND!"  
  
"HELLFIRE!"  
  
As nine weapons merged their powers together, Sailor Terra summoned   
her own weapon for the first time, a solid jet scythe of astonishing   
beauty equalled only by its lethal combat effectiveness.  
  
"HARBINGER!" called the scarlet lady, putting her scythe in contact   
with the other weapons, further fueling the raging Technum maelstrom.  
  
Getting back up from Jupiter`s mindless bashing, Aebonite felt that   
something very bad was going to happen, and he wouldn`t take it   
lying down. "I forbid you!!!" he screamed.  
  
Refusing to heed her enemy`s command, Sailor Moon summoned her   
crystal two-handed sword and put it in contact with all the others`   
sacred weapons. "AVENGER!" she called, a blinding strobe of radiance   
surging from the eleven weapons united at last.  
  
And just as prophecy told, a huge portal of glimmering light opened,   
letting through a young girl wearing a modified senshi fuku of   
unequalled beauty. It was a long sleeveless dress, made of the   
purest white fabric, with intricate motives sewn along the entire   
lenght. She also wore long white gloves and a superb lightweight   
chestplate molded to fit every curve of her body. Every step she   
took spoke eloquently of her grace, an elegant tribute to the purity   
of her soul.  
  
Along the lenght of her dress were the kanji for MEGAMI NO MUSUME,   
daughter of the goddess.  
  
She had an aura of flashing golden light about her, masking her   
facial features so that only her silhouette was visible, yet this   
intense light did nothing to hurt the eyes of those who beheld her.  
  
"She`s so beautiful..." whispered Sailor Moon, who found no other   
thing to do than kneel in respect, offering her weapon in service to   
her guide revealed at long last. All the other senshi did the same,   
bowing their head in a silent show of loyalty.  
  
"On your feet, my friends, I am not your leader, but merely a helping   
friend in your quest." said the messiah in a voice that spoke volumes   
as to the kindness of her heart.  
  
"Pretty words from a pretty girl... and now you all die!!!" yelled   
the bleeding Aebonite, calling for all of earth`s power at once. He   
unleashed it all towards the messiah, yet she was unaffected as the   
onslaught was diverted by an unseen shield around her and the senshi   
who all silently prayed to their newfound ally.  
  
From the eleven senshi of the planets, a huge force was released and   
these eleven streams of power merged between the hands of the messiah,   
forming a blazing ring of fire circling in an endless cycle without   
beginning or end.  
  
"Eternal is the cycle of life, no beginning nor ending, only the   
glory of existence." she said in a solemn noice, while the assault   
of Aebonite kept on raging around them in a futile attempt to smithe   
the only obstacle between him and absolute power. "The Ouroboros   
cannot ever be denied his infinite power!" she yelled, forming the   
raging circle of fire into a weapon of the dealiest kind ever seen   
on this planet, a halberd whose shaft was shaped as a long snake   
coiled around a stick. With swift movements, she spun it around her   
and the crashing waves of destruction surging from Aebonite began to   
dance along to Ouroboros` rythmn, flowing around to be returned to   
Aebonite himself in an out of control blast that even he couldn`t   
hope to stop.  
  
Aebonite screamed, as he saw his hands beginning to disintegrate   
under this unforeseen turn of events, consuming in turn his arms and   
legs, all the way through his entire body until there was nothing   
left of him. The pillar of aebonite mineral cracked in turn,   
exploding with the power of an entire planet`s power released at   
once and wiping out the vile fortress of Beryl for good.  
  
Then silence fell.  
  
* * *  
  
When Sailor Moon opened her eyes again, all was dark around her...   
then she saw she was floating inside an energy bubble suspended high   
into the earth`s atmosphere, all her sister senshi were there too,   
as were her boyfriend and her brother, Endymion and Shingo. In the   
middle of this bubble was the messiah herself, whose aura had   
subsided and was now easily recongnizable.  
  
Sailor Moon gasped. The messiah was none other than her best friend   
Naru.  
  
"Hello, Usagi. I`ll bet you never expected it would be me!" she said.  
  
It all made sense, all of a sudden: the prophecy had spoken of one   
who had died at the hands of Ronmar, and was resurrected by the   
Prime and his children... and that was exactly what had happened to   
young Osaka Naru! How could she possibly miss that?!?  
  
"That explains why the energy sucking monsters always were attracted   
to you, I guess..." said Sailor Moon.  
  
"Yes... I knew this was my role ever since I came back from the dead,   
although I had to keep this secret even from you until the moment of   
prophecy came." explained Naru.  
  
"You look so radiant in this dress..." said Sailor Moon, in awe   
before the messiah.  
  
"You look quite stunning yourself, old friend." she replied.  
  
Endymion and the others began waking up around them, gasping in   
surprise as they noticed WHERE they were.  
  
"Hello my friends, your battle is won." said the messiah. "Even as   
we speak, worldwide patterns of temperature are restoring themselves,   
and life is returning to normal. Crops will be bad this year,   
although given time nature will heal herself as well."  
  
"Naru... I can`t believe you are the messiah!" blurted out the   
astonished Sailor Venus.  
  
"I was surprised to learn this myself... destiny has a strange way   
of working things out. I have two gifts for you my friends, but first   
let us return to our home." said Naru, lifting her hands and pointing   
them to the edge of the energy bubble which accelerated and reentered   
the earth`s gravity pull, streaking down to the surface like a   
glorious shooting star.  
  
* * *  
  
When the bubble landed in the outer senshi home`s backyard, all of   
them had returned to their regular clothes, looking once again like   
the average yound adults that didn`t look a thing like the saviors   
of humanity.  
  
"First of all, a gift for you, Usagi." said Naru, pulling the moon   
crescent wand from her inner jacket pocket and handing over to her   
best friend. "Did you really think I`d allow this relic, your   
birthright, to be destroyed? You will need it again in the future   
when you reclaim your lost silver crystal."  
  
Usagi smiled, fighting off her tears. It had been so long since   
she`d held her mother Serenity`s gift...  
  
"And now, as you all know, there can be no savior messiah without her   
darker counterpart, the final destroyer who can end all things with   
but a few words, the silent messiah..." said Naru. She lifted her   
hands, and in a flash of light appeared in her arms the most   
beautiful baby girl any one of them had ever seen, whose black hair   
and eyes sparkled with the promise of untold powers of destruction.  
  
"Michiru..." said Naru, turning to the speechless senshi of the   
ocean, "Will you take care of the silent messiah, Hotaru?"  
  
Michiru cried in joy as she took the giggling baby girl in her arms   
and cuddled her. Haruka could tell that her lover had fallen   
hopelessly in love with the little girl, the answer to all her   
deepest desires.  
  
"I... Yes... oh, Naru, how can I ever thank you?" she blurted out   
in joy.  
  
"By taking care of your new daughter, Michiru." said Naru.  
  
"We`ll help you out, Michiru, we outer senshi have to stand by each   
other!" said Robin, thrilled to have a little sister... well, sort   
of anyway. Setsuna and Haruka agreed.  
  
"So... is this really the end of our battles against evil? Or just   
a temporary respite to regain our strenght before the next   
assault???" wondered Shingo, who suddenly realized that the black  
leather clothes given by Aebonite were gone, replaced by jeans, a   
thick wool sweater and a nice looking winter coat courtesy of the   
messiah`s great power.  
  
"There`s still so much more to come, uncle Shingo..." replied the   
scarlet lady. "It just comes in cycles, you know."  
  
* * *  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
  
Deep within the center of the galaxy lived a figure so ancient that   
she had long ago faded from memory, living in a few rare myths of the   
earliest days of creation itself. She was one of the elder sailor   
senshi, a living relic of the primordial past, the greatest hero of   
the universe.  
  
Her life had been a long one indeed, one marked with the constant   
torture she had imposed herself in order to preserve the budding   
life that was meant to spread throughout the universe. She had   
sacrificed herself to prevent the spread of the almighty chaos,   
making the gesture that any sailor senshi would have been willing to   
do but only her could perform.  
  
She had taken it within herself, inside her soul, acting as a living   
prison to the malevolent force of evil.  
  
After so many aeons, the ordeal had taken its toll on her sanity, as   
the evil force was slowly tempting her with false promises, lies and   
threats. Slowly but surely, Sailor Galaxia`s mind was wavering...  
  
And then the unimaginable happened: in one horrible song of apocalyse,   
Galaxia screamed from pain that arose from the deepest recesses of   
her darkened soul. Her willpower failed her, giving into the dark   
urges of chaos. The single greatest genocidal murderer the universe   
would ever know was born in this single moment of dark rebirth.  
  
  
The End  



	34. Storm Front On The Horizon

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
Picking up the can resting on the table in front of it, the young   
teenage man with long flowing silver hair was rather disapointed to   
see it was empty. He crushed the aluminum can and tossed it in the   
garbage can next to the sofa he sat on.  
  
"Wish I had another soda right now..." he mumbled.  
  
"You already had two. It`ll be a miracle if you make it through this   
job without having to go a few times..." snapped a second young man,   
whose dark black hair was tied in a similar ponytail to the first   
one.  
  
"He`s done it before, he`ll pull through. His bladder is larger than   
his stomach, most likely." added the third young man who had a long   
ponytail as well, but brown in color.  
  
"Okay, so we`ve covered all aspects of my waste disposal system, can   
we change the subject now?"  
  
"Yes." said the brown haired young man. "As you all know, our mission   
is of capital importance and we must take every step to ensure it`s   
success. The first one is to find the princess, as she alone can   
guide us to our objective on this planet. We know she`s in the Tokyo   
general area somewhere, but she`s disguised... and so are we."  
  
"Remember guys, our songs are the only tools we have of finding her.   
Nothing else matters... NOTHING." said the black haired man. The   
other two agreed.  
  
Suddenly, loud cheers could be heard through the waiting room in   
which they were seated. Over two thousand voices of young girls were   
chanting "Seiya", "Yaten" and "Taiki".  
  
"Time to go do our show. Hopefully she`ll hear us tonight." added   
the young man, leading the way out for the other two who followed   
him to a well light musical stage.  
  
A loud speaker voice announced their arrival on stage, driving the   
spectators even wilder:  
  
"AND NOW, HERE IS THE HOTTEST NEW ACT IN JAPAN, HERE FOR YOUR   
MUSICAL PLEASURE... THE THREE LIGHTS!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 34  
  
STORM FRONT ON THE HORIZON  
  
  
Inside the outer senshi`s house, all the senshi and their friends   
were reunited for this most joyous event, the coming of the new year.   
They were only a few seconds away now, and everyone counted to the   
stroke of midnight.  
  
"Three... two... one... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" they all screamed, hugging   
and kissing each other while toasting the beginning of a very good   
year.  
  
And a promising new year it was: their enemy aebonite had been   
destroyed as well as his energy draining giant crystal after the   
eleven soul powered senshi summoned the foretold messiah of legend...   
who turned out to be their old friend Osaka Naru!!! Temperatures had   
returned to their normal levels and beyond, as if nature wanted to   
appologize for the harsh cold served since the month of october by   
serving a cooler winter and preparing an early spring. A mere jacket   
was now enough to endure the very tolerable cold.  
  
In addition to this happy ending, Michiru had gotten her greatest   
wish come true. She had been entrusted to raise the reborn silent   
messiah Hotaru who was now a young baby girl. She had instantly   
fallen in love with the baby, and loved her even more every day. It   
had been barely a month, but Michiru had become the greatest mother   
anyone could want. Haruka found her fiancee to be even more beautiful   
in her new role, and was quickly adopting the role of father, with  
Setsuna being an aunt and Robin a sister.  
  
And Umino in all this? He was quite overwhelmed- finding out his   
friends had super powers was difficult enough to swallow already,   
now he had to digest the fact that his girlfriend, who had died and   
resurrected just last summer, was also the messiah of legend.   
Fortunately, the girls had started to rely on him more and more for   
information searches, and his growing involvement with their senshi   
business greatly helped him redefine his role towards the saviors of   
humanity.  
  
After living through unimaginable ordeals provoked by the dark   
empire, Rei and Makoto were well on their way of healing their   
emotional scars. Rei was still very much hurt, though she now smiled   
and regained a thirst for life. She was praying for the soul of her   
lost child every day now, finding solace in her renewed faith.   
Makoto`s use of her Sailor Jupiter form had turned out to be a great   
idea, as her spinal nerves seemed to be healing for it. She could now   
walk, albeit very slowly and with crutches, although it was certain   
that she would regain full use of her legs again.  
  
"Won`t you give me a kiss, loverboy?" asked Laurella to Shingo,   
hanging on his shoulders with a big smile on her lips.  
  
"I`ll give you a kiss, my love..." he said. "And so much more   
later..." he then whispered in her ear. Laurella had been floating on   
a cloud ever since she had reclaimed her boyfriend from the dirty   
clutches of Aebonite, breaking the mind conditionning Shingo had been   
subjected to which had transformed him from the Emerald Knight into   
the Malachite Warlord. He was all hers once again.  
  
As these young people celebrated the new year, none of them   
suspected that this year would bring them the most difficult ordeals   
they could have possibly imagined.  
  
* * *  
  
"It`s been a month. He should be here." growled the hulking manwolf   
as he stared out the window of the luxurious penthouse built on the   
surface of the entire 50th floor in the main building of the newly   
completed Poldzer Triangle.  
  
Lights flashed everywhere in the starry night covering Tokyo, and   
the entire population was happily celebrating the coming of the new   
year.  
  
"He`ll be there, don`t worry. Travelling between worlds has been   
very difficult to achieve these past few months, so he might take a   
while longer to arrive, that`s all." said a hushed voice coming from   
the bedroom behind the manwolf Fenris Wolfang. He knew that   
Crystallite was right, her great experience in magical matters   
guiding her optimistic view in this particular instance.  
  
"I`ll still be more comfortable once he gets here. As long as he`s   
delaying his arrival, you'll be open and vulnerable." replied Fenris.  
  
"I`ll never be vulnerable as long as you're here with me, my big   
furry protector..." said the young woman. "Come to bed, now, I can`t   
sleep without my furry wolf next to me."  
  
Fenris turned away from the large bay windows and the magnificent   
view of nighttime Tokyo, going to the richly decorated bedroom where   
the young daughter of Queen Beryl was in bed. Her long red hair   
cascading over her shoulders was barely covering her body which she   
made no effort to conceal under the satin sheets.  
  
"Come over here, my big lupine!" she urged him, patting the open spot   
in the queen size bed. Fenris made his way to the bed, the floor   
trembling under his every step. He sat down next to her and   
proceeded to remove his clothes, under the wide-eyed looks of the   
lovestruck Crystallite who just loved all this fur.  
  
Taking place under the sheets, Crystallite cuddled to Fenris and   
smiled contently. The manwolf dragged his clawed finger along her   
bare chest, following the outlines of the horrible scars covering   
her heart. The scars had the exact shape of the clawmarks left by   
a furious blow given by the manwolf himself. Tears formed in the   
eyes of Fenris.  
  
"I`m so sorry..." he whispered, looking away from her in shame.  
  
"Don`t be... if it wasn`t for that, we wouldn`t be together today,   
would we?" asked Crystallite, placing her hand on his cheek and   
turning his head around to face her. The manwolf silently agreed.   
"My body be shattered... but you rescued my soul from loneliness.   
I`ll be eternally grateful for that, my love..." she said, yawning   
afterwards. The teenage girl curled in a foetal position and fell   
asleep in her furry protector`s arms.  
  
Long after she fell asleep, Fenris still remained fully awake,   
standing guard for any threat that might come. He slowly closed his   
eyes, his eyelids not shutting completely tight, but rather   
fluttering in nervous twitches, ready to open in a flash. His ears   
remained pointed up, the slightest noise having the potential to   
awaken him into a frenzied rage to protect the woman he loved more   
than his very life.  
  
* * *  
  
"You delayed this long enough, Ami, and it`s eating you up, I can   
tell." said Usagi to her brainy friend whom she had invited over on   
this new year's day.  
  
"You're right, Usagi... and I'm happy that you were able to come here   
on such short notice as well, Rei, I wanted you there to tell this."   
said Ami, looking rather nervous.  
  
Rei could tell that something was really strange about this whole   
thing.  
  
"What did you want to tell us that is so difficult? After all, we   
were there when you declared openly your homosexuality, and helped   
get over that mind rape from Psyche... there`s nothing we can`t   
handle!" said Rei, smiling and putting her arm around her shoulder   
to comfort her.  
  
Usagi smiled and did the same. Ami felt a little better, and began   
her strange tale.  
  
"This all started when my mother was... well, a different person.   
Back then, her name was Quartzite. She worked in Beryl`s army, and   
was doing whatever it took to get ahead in rank."  
  
"WHOA! She worked for... Beryl?!?" yelled Usagi, taken aback by that   
shocker.  
  
"So... that explains these strange vibes I got from her... not evil   
per se, but dark somehow." said Rei, as though she wasn`t surprised   
at all.  
  
"To continue..." said Ami, wanting to get this out while she had the   
ball rolling. "She used her charm to seduce her superior, knowing   
this would lead to advancement. When she found herself pregnant with   
me, she looked back upon her life and decided this was no world to   
raise her child in. So she fled, and took a new life in Japan after   
meeting the man she always told me was my dad." she explained. He`ll   
always be my dad, she thought privately.  
  
"That Quartzite who helped us fight Gingitsune, that was her then..."   
mumbled Rei. It was all falling into place, she thought.  
  
"There`s another thing, ami..." asked Usagi. This superior officer of   
hers... your biological father... did she happen to mention his   
name?"  
  
Rei and Usagi feared the answer Ami would give them, more so when   
they saw her fearful look.  
  
Ami hesitated, opening her trembling lips from which no sound came.  
  
"I called only the two of you for a reason..." she said, tears   
forming in her eyes. "His name... my real father`s name... is   
Jedite."  
  
Ami couldn`t have muted her two friends faster if she had pulled a   
gun and shot herself right there. They just stared at her, their   
jaws dropping in a blank stupor.  
  
"I`ll give some time to fully realize this before discussing it   
further. I`ll... just go home for now. Mom isn`t home tonight, and   
I need some time alone." said Ami who excused herself from Usagi`s   
parents before leaving.  
  
"Hum... I couldn`t help overhearing..." apologized Ikuko who joined   
Usagi and Rei. "Who is this Jedite Ami spoke of?"  
  
"It`s a long story, mom, a really sad one."  
  
* * *  
  
His place was a rather roomy one, although the decor was done mostly   
in dark winter colors to further emphasize his dreadful nature. The   
furniture was sparse and efficient, designed for mere functionality   
instead of accomodating to mere comfort... much like the dread knight   
himself was, to be blunt about it.  
  
One of those efficient pieces of Mitchell Dreadborne, the lord of   
darkness Ronmar, had been bought with such concerns in mind. It   
wasn`t very soft, but it was certainly great for the back. Then   
again, Mitchell was starting to have second thoughts regarding his   
bed. It had served its purpose of providing a suitable resting place   
well enough so far, but he was going to need it to be accomodating   
for further use from now. He rolled to his side and placed his arms   
around the waist of the sleeping Mizuno Akane.  
  
What was it that appealed him so much in this woman? Was it her   
devotion to others that made her so attractive to his darkened soul,   
or her roots in the soils of the nether regions of the heart that   
were so close to his?  
  
She stirred and groaned a bit, returning to a deeper sleep state   
afterwards. "I`ll buy a softer bed tomorrow, my darling, you deserve   
every attention."  
  
Mitchell was amazed how Akane had said nothing regarding the less   
than comfortable bed she was sleeping in. She hadn`t said a word to   
him about him after they made love, but he could tell of her   
discomfort. He`d take care of that.  
  
Suddenly, a loud and distant moan raged deep within his mind, like   
a long forgotten yell from the past. Something he hadn`t heard in   
centuries. Something he had all but forgotten. Something he had   
hoped NEVER hear again.  
  
"No... it`s not possible, he couldn`t be here... could he?" wondered   
the dread knight. "No, he wouldn`t come to earth... what would Black   
Baron do on this planet? There`s nothing for him which has any   
interest..."  
  
The middle aged woman rolled around in her sleep and cuddled herself   
to Mitchell`s chest, her lips forming a large smile. He smiled back   
at her, telling himself that it must have been a mere forgotten   
memory resurfacing in a chaotic fashion, as it happened to everyone   
once in a while.  
  
He managed to go to sleep as well.  
  
* * *  
  
The air seemed to die for just a moment, the light litteraly sucked   
out of a single point in space atop the second building of the   
Poldzer Triangle aptly renamed "Gloom" by its new owner. Out of   
this point flowed out the substance of night, the poison of minds,   
the venom of souls. Floating around and absorbing all ambient light   
and spewing forth vile blackness, the foglike dark substance took on   
a form that was barely solid at all, humanoid in the slimest sense of   
the term.  
  
Ronamr was the most powerful knightmare in existence it was true, but   
he was no more than a shadow, and any shadow could easily be snuffed   
out by the pitch blackness of the grandmaster of the timeless arts   
of darkness.  
  
"Let there be dispair. Let there be fear. Let there be void, pure,   
perfect, formless and beyond the holy power of the Word, preceeding   
shape and description." whispered the vaguely human shroud of   
darkness.  
  
Black Baron had arrived into Tokyo.  
  
  
To be continued...  
  
* * *  
  
Okay, this was a short one, so I`ll take this occasion to give a few   
well deserved thanks to some people I respect and whom I am proud to   
call friends.  
  
Commander Galos, my number one fan, for long chats, good suggestions   
and his uncanny knack for telling how I feel just by reading my words   
on his screen.  
  
Sonya-chan, for plenty of great ideas and constant support throughout   
my long drought periods of writer`s block, as well as being a great   
test reader for my new stuff.  
  
Tiga Shadow, for hearing me complain when I felt down, as I do every   
so often...  
  
Sailor Mac, whose romantic fics inspired me to write my own.  
  
And all those others who are out there, trying their best to make us   
laugh, cry and cheer through the adventures of a certain klutzy blonde   
girl we all love...  
  
Thanks to you all.  



	35. First Impressions

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue  
  
The most horrible black lightning tore apart the sky of planet   
Felicus Four, thick dark clouds hovering in the omnious red   
atmosphere brought on by the planet`s imminent destruction.  
  
A single figure floated menacingly over the largest temple of the   
Tiger people, standing ready to perform the foulest deed imaginable.   
Her golden armor glinted as fires broke out in the surroundings   
habitations while the magnificient temple cracked under the   
unwithstandable aura of power radiated by the golden queen Galaxia.  
  
Powerful whispers within her soul praised her for every building she   
destroyed, each life she took. She was doing what her destiny had   
truly meant her to be, it said, and encouraged her to continue her   
mindless slaughter of innocent life.  
  
As her laugh echoed, a powerful voice boomed from a lone warrior   
who would defy her.  
  
"STOP!!! Your crimes must be punished, monster!" said the hero of   
the Felician, a young tiger woman named Sailor Steel Tiger. Her   
skimpy metal color outfit revealed a very muscular body, entirely   
covered with short stripped fur. Her claws were menacingly sharp,   
as were her fangs.  
  
"You dare stand against me, little one? Do you know how many worlds   
I have destroyed before yours, how much more holy defenders I have   
murdered to do so?" asked Galaxia, her eyes flaring with a power   
the likes of which was totally unthinkable.  
  
"Even if my life is the price to pay, you will be destroyed!" growled   
Steel Tiger, jumping up in the air in a blur of blue lightning, all   
claws out for the invader. "TIGER CLAW BURN!!!" she screamed as she   
did.  
  
Lifting a single finger, a raging maelstrom of power was funneled out   
of Galaxia`s arm and in a thundrous roar flew towards the leaping   
tigress, detonating violently against her chest. She fell to the   
ground limply, groaning in pain as she tried to get back to her   
feet.  
  
"Impressive." said Galaxia. "I actually had to move to put an end to   
your futile effort."  
  
Galaxia landed softly next to the tigress, black lightning hitting   
the ground around them both in a deafening explosion. Screams of   
pain echoed in the distance from all directions as all life on the   
planet was being mercilessly squelched out of existence, leaving   
behind only the source of their being, their starseeds.  
  
"Furthermore, you survived an attack that would have killed any being   
lesser than a true sailor senshi. You are worthy of being given...   
the choice." said Galaxia, her wicked smile giving the tiger soldier   
shivers.  
  
"What... choice...?" she mumbled, clutching her bruised ribs with   
both arms.  
  
"You can either die here this very instant, your starseed ripped from   
your chest in unimaginable pain the likes of which you would not dare   
think possible... or you can join me, becoming my loyal servant and   
gaining more power than your pityful soul could ever grant you." she   
said, outstreching her arm and offering her hand to the wounded   
warrior.  
  
She hesitated for several minutes, but the evidence was there for her   
eyes to see: her dearly loved homeworld was being torn apart at the   
seams, its every inhabitant ruthlessly murdered by this unstoppable   
being. Sailor Steel Tiger finally accepted this unholy offer and   
reached out for the hand of Galaxia. Before she could touch it,   
though, the golden clad being grabbed her wrist in her vise-like   
grip. Steel Tiger let out a yelp of pain, partly from the crushing   
hand cutting her circulation, but mostly from the energy surge   
burning her wrist under Galaxia`s burning touch. Her other wrist   
also began burning as well, until a pair of crystal mounted copper   
colored bracelets had been formed on her arms, binding her destiny   
to her new mistress Galaxia`s as surely as the strongest of shackles.  
  
"You are mine, now, kitty!" purred Galaxia, content with both her   
victory and her newly acquired sailor slave.  
  
A single tear rolled on Steel Tiger`s cheek, her form and Galaxia`s   
disappearing along with all of the fifty million starseeds of the   
now dead planet.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 35  
  
FIRST IMPRESSIONS  
  
  
Shingo, Laurella and Mamoru could hardly believe their eyes at the   
sheer amount of food eaten by Usagi and her future daughter Usako.   
Having made their way through the largest plate on the menu, they   
were now attacking the largest sundaes this side of creation without   
showing any sign of being even remotely full.  
  
"They must have eaten their own weight in food since this morning...   
and it`s barely twelve o'clock!" whispered Shingo to his sister`s   
fiancee.  
  
"Usako is so much like her mother, it`s sometimes scary." he replied   
in a hushed tone so that Usagi wouldn`t hear.  
  
Motoki approached their table to give Shingo and Mamoru their bills.   
Laurella quickly snatched them out of their hands and giggled. "My   
treat today, friends, I have to go through my dad`s weekly allowance   
somehow!" she joked. Her friends laughed, except for Mamoru who gave   
a discreet sigh of relief. Feeding a pair of Tsukino girls was a   
dangerously expensive experience to undergo.  
  
"So what`s on the program on this lovely saturday afternoon?"   
wondered Mamoru, only too happy to have some money left in his   
wallet.  
  
"Test runs for Haruka at my dad`s personal speedway. He`s been   
looking for a motorbike racer to sponsor for a while now, and he`s   
thinking about her as his star pilot." replied Laurella.  
  
"This should be fun." said Usako. "I`ll go wash up... be right back."   
she said, going up and walking to the girls' room.  
  
It`s at that moment that the people around them began to hush and   
whisper, pointing to a table in the far corner of the restaurant.   
Lovestruck gazes filled the eyes of the young girls while their   
boyfriends' eyes showed obvious jealousy.  
  
"It`s him, I`m sure!" could be heard whispered behind them.  
  
"Are you sure?" asked another voice.  
  
"I`d recognize Kou Seiya ANYWHERE!" said the first one.  
  
The group turned around and saw the young idol singer whose meteoric   
rise to stardom had been all the talk in the entertainment industry.   
The Three Lights had a romantic pop rock repertoire that simply   
appealed to everyone.  
  
Usagi had heard Robin and Minako go on and on about the three cute   
guys of that group, Seiya, Taiki and Yaten. She knew what each one   
of them looked like by now, as her starstruck friends could drone   
on endlessly about their favorite singers for hours on end if   
allowed to.  
  
"He`s not that hot." thought Usagi. "He`s cute, but he`s no   
Endymion..."  
  
Flipping a few hundred yen coins from his pocket, Seiya got up and   
pulled out his shades which he put on in one swift motion. Walking   
across the room, all the gazes were upon him, and he could feel it.   
He had gotten used to it, although he never really learned to like   
it as his agent had suggested he should.  
  
Walking by the senshi table, he stopped for a second sensing a hint   
of power. He looked at Usagi while lowering his shades, staring right   
at her wide baby blue eyes.  
  
"Hello." politely said Usagi.  
  
"Hey." said Seiya, keeping up his front as a cool guy in total   
control of the situation.  
  
"I`m baaaack!" chirped Usako as she made her way back to the table.  
  
Hearing the young girl who was coming behind him, he turned around   
and had the biggest shock of his life: in front of him stood the   
mirror image of the blonde girl he met just twenty seconds ago,   
except that instead of short blonde hair that fell to her shoulders,   
she wore her striking scarlet hair in ponytails that reached all the   
way down to her tighs, just above her knees.  
  
But most of all, she had an aura of power about her that sent   
thunderbolts going through his spine.  
  
"Hello, who`s this?" wondered Usako.  
  
"It`s Kou Seiya, one of the Three Lights... you know, that group   
Robin totally freaks over since december?" answered Shingo.  
  
"I`m glad to meet you, Seiya, I`m Usagi`s cousin. My name`s Usako."  
  
Trying to shake off his daze, Seiya blurted out the first thing that   
came to his mind. "Your hair, it sorta looks like... odango."  
  
"WHAT DID YOU SAY???" snapped Usako, insulted. "My mother ALWAYS   
wore her hair that way!" she said, but then took a quick peek at   
Usagi`s current hairstyle. "Well, after she turned into a more   
mature woman anyhow." she quickly added. This last remark got   
hushed snickers from her friends, except for Usagi who pulled her   
tongue to Usako.  
  
Recomposing himself in a flash, Seiya found a quick retort.  
  
"I`ll bet she`s just as goofy looking as you with that hair. See ya   
around, Odango!" he snapped, leaving in a hurry before the frustrated   
scarlet lady could figure a proper response.  
  
"The NERVE of that guy!!!" she fumed, venting out her anger on the   
absent idol singer.  
  
* * *  
  
Everyone in the library had stopped reading when he came in,   
fascinated by the tall musician with the long brown ponytail, Kou   
Taiki. Armed with his new library card, Taiki took refuge from the   
large fan crowds in the silent book archive, enjoying the soothing   
tranquility, the only place where one can truly appreciate the   
timeless magic of classic litterature.  
  
No one dared move close to him, afraid of disturbing his   
concentration. After all, he was known to all his fans as the   
intellectual of the Three Lights, and no one would disturb his   
quiet thinking...  
  
Turning around the corner out of another row of huge bookcases, a   
young girl with short dark blue hair came to him, showing no shyness   
or discomfort in front of one of the rising singing stars of the   
japanese music scene. Taiki raised his eyes for a moment, giving her   
a quick look and then lowering his stare right back to his book   
without saying a word.  
  
"Excuse me, I`m looking for the poetry section." asked Ami in a   
hushed whisper.  
  
Having noted earlier where that section was, Taiki pointed it with   
his finger in silence, not bothering to look at her anymore. He was   
beginning to be quite tired of the more relentless fans that were   
after him and his brothers, and this one was obviously looking for   
any excuse to talk to him, as were all the others. Since the start   
of his musical career, he`d been asked countless times similar   
questions, all equally inane. He wouldn`t give her the satisfaction   
of saying a single word.  
  
"Thank you." she replied, leaving without any further questions or   
making flatering comments.  
  
Although he was surprised that she indeed went to the poetry section,   
he gave it no further thought as he plunged back into his novel.  
  
* * *  
  
"Geeze, WHERE did I park the car?" thought Kou Yaten as he left the   
electronics store that had just finished fixing his CD player. If   
the silver haired singing sensation`s brother Seiya had been there,   
surely he would have taken a cheap shot at his expensive for   
forgetting where he parked... again.  
  
Turning around to go over the street again in case he missed his   
car, he bumped into a young woman who was coming fast in his   
direction. Staggering backwards, he saw in horror his fully   
functional CD player slip out of his fingers and fall to the   
ground... until the quick fingers of the girl who bumped into him   
snatched it from its horrible fate.  
  
She handed it over to him with a smile. "Here`s your... hey, you`re   
Yaten!!!" said Robin, her eyes lighting up with excitment.  
  
"Oh great, another one..." thought Yaten. "Thanks, I was counting on   
using it tonight." he replied with a polite smile.  
  
"Ooooh, I simply LOVE your record, the songs all are so magical!!!   
So do you sing to someone special, or are you still... available???"   
wondered Robin, her curious nature showing through like a flashbulb   
in a dark room.  
  
"I suppose you`ll be wanting my autograph, now?" said Yaten, waiting   
to get the usual "If you don`t mind taking the time" answer this   
question always got.  
  
"What`s that?" wondered Robin, a curious look on her face.  
  
"You know, an autograph... I write my signature in your booklet, or   
on your CD or something?"  
  
It became apparent to Yaten that this girl wasn`t playing coy or   
being a smart aleck- she was totally clueless right now.  
  
"Why would I want you to do that?" she asked.  
  
At that moment, Robin`s watch alarm rang, reminding her of an   
appointment she had taken to see doctor Mizuno regarding possible   
seizure relapses.  
  
"Whoa, I have to go, bye Yaten!" she said, running off.  
  
"Man, this girl is a weird one..." thought Yaten. "Almost as if she   
fell from another planet or something..."  
  
Then it struck him. If his princess had come from another planet   
just recently, isn`t there a good chance that she would be just as   
clueless??? DAMN, she had disappeared from view and he had no idea   
where she was now!  
  
"I don`t even know her name..." he whispered. Finally finding his   
car, he went back home.  
  
* * *  
  
It was almost six o'clock when Taiki finally put his book down and   
got up from his reading table to go home. Looking over to the other   
side of the huge library, he noticed that Ami was still there, and   
was devouring a book of medieval poetry.  
  
The idol singer was amazed that a girl whom he thought was just   
another groupie turned out to be the genuine article. She was   
cultured, obviously very smart and had the same craving for learning   
as he did. She had so much maturity regardless of her young age, she   
was indeed very special.  
  
"Don`t waste your time." whispered someone behind him.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"That girl, she`s a genius from my biology class. She`s a real   
brainy one, but..."  
  
"But what?" asked Taiki.  
  
"...but she plays for the all girl league, if you catch my drift."   
said the young man who then picked up his books and left.  
  
Taiki thought this over. He had a small grin, barely noticeable...  
  
* * *  
  
Within the penthouse atop the "Dusk" building of the Poldzer   
Triangle, darkness bathed the owners of the newly completed complex   
with a stillness that seeped within one`s soul with a power so black   
that only one of equally dark intentions could bear to withstand it.  
  
Crystallite was such a soul.  
  
The evil daughter of Beryl had waited a long time for this moment to   
arrive, and much planning went into its preparation. She had subtly   
manipulated her husband Aebonite into giving the weak sailor scouts   
such a challenge that their soul power would be revealed, ascending   
them to the status of sailor senshi. She had in her possession the   
cards of Gallagher which she had obtained from the remains of an   
escape pod that had taken Sailor Moon back from saturn station beta   
after her last battle against the Prime. Most of all, her new ally   
had finally arrived.  
  
"Welcome to this world, Black Baron..." she whispered. The darkness   
around her shifted slighty, moving to form a humanoid shape which   
took a more or less solid form, one whose appearance could barely be   
guessed as it gave no reflection of light, rather absorbing it all   
around him.  
  
Not even the cold hearted Crystallite could repress a shudder from   
the dark presence that came to serve her.  
  
"You know why I summoned you." said Crystallite, trying to keep her   
voice from wavering as fear clasped her spirit in its cold clutches.  
  
"Yes..." answered a disembodied voice emanating from the general   
surroundings of the shadowy being, although not quite from his exact   
location. His appearance kept shifting constantly, yet managed to   
keep a general outlook of being somewhat human in form.  
  
"Then you shall begin your mission. Your first task shall be of   
replacing Dokuryo as my first in command." explained Crystallite.  
  
"What shall be done of him?" came the cold whisper of the soul   
chilling voice.  
  
"I care not what happens of him. Do as you must."  
  
Saying no more, Black Baron bowed politely- or at least seemed to   
do so. In a wicked warping of the fabric of reality, the dark shadow   
vanished.  
  
Out of a dark corner of the living room emerged the hulking shape of   
the lupine beast Fenris Wolfang. Growling at the spot stained by the   
black presence, the manwolf sat on the rich leather couch right next   
to Crystallite and hugged her in his massive arms.  
  
"I loathe that... that... thing. Must you really do business with   
Black Baron, milady?" he asked in a deep voice full of concern.  
  
"I have no other option. My plan is set in motion and there is no   
turning back. We must embrace the coming darkness... lest we be   
consumed by it!" she replied, laying her head on his chest.  
  
"Then I will follow you into the black pits of hell. I promise you   
that." he said, purring as she caressed him in that way he liked so   
much.  
  
* * *  
  
"I think I found her!" said Yaten as he blasted into the large   
apartment he and his brothers shared. He was overexcited and being   
his usual obnoxious self in the two others' view.  
  
"Join the club." said Seiya.  
  
"Apparently, we ALL think we`ve seen her." added Taiki.  
  
"But you don`t get it guys... she looked japanese, yet she wasn`t   
japanese at the same time! She must have recognized our message   
because she was crazy over our music... and moreover, she was so   
amazingly clueless about how this world works that it was like she   
arrived from saturn just last year!!!" explained Yaten.  
  
"What`s her name?" wondered Taiki.  
  
"Err... she left in a hurry before she mentionned it."  
  
"Forgot to ask her, didn`t you?" said Seiya, chuckling.  
  
"SHUT UP!" snapped Yaten.  
  
"Well I met a very bright young lady named Ami. She has the   
intelligence, grace, culture and maturity of the princess herself!!!   
I am convinced that she must be the princess." went on Taiki,   
putting down his book on quantum physics.  
  
"And why is THIS genius more likely than any other to be our   
princess?" wondered Seiya.  
  
"Remember the rumors regarding the princess, on how she wasn`t   
interested in men at all?" said Taiki.  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"And what about this girl you met, Seiya, why should we think it`s   
her?" asked Yaten.  
  
"She had this aura of power no human could possess! She also had the   
same face as another girl she pretended was her cousin, except that   
she had the same long bright red hair as the princess. I just know   
that Usako is the girl we`re looking for." said Seiya.  
  
"Tell me something, Seiya..." asked Taiki, twirling his long brown   
ponytail. "When you met her, you didn`t act like your usual self?   
You didn`t just blurt out the first thing you thought of, now, did   
you?"  
  
"Well... I might have..." answered Seiya, looking at the floor.  
  
The other two slapped their foreheads.  
  
"You always do that! What`s your problem?!?" asked Yaten.  
  
"Shut up, okay? We`re not all so nonchalant around girls as SOME   
people are!" snapped Seiya.  
  
"What`s THAT supposed to mean?!?" replied Yaten.  
  
"Well, we seem to have a little problem on our hands... three girls,   
all likely candidates... I guess we`ll have to follow through to see   
which one it is." concluded Taiki.  
  
* * *  
  
Coming back home from his day at the office, Kenji was rather   
exhausted. It had been a very long day, and he was looking forward   
to spending some time with his family. Speaking of which, it had  
taken a turn for the bizarre over the past few months, having   
discovered that both his children were reincarnated superbeings from   
the past who had saved humanity from total destruction many times   
over since their ancient powers had reawakened. Moreover, the little   
girl whom he had been somehow manipulated into thinking was his   
niece was none other than his own grandaughter from the future.  
  
Pulling into the driveway of his house, he heard a girlish giggle   
from behind a tree on his front yard after turning off his car   
engine. Curious, he went to the source of the laughter only to see   
some pink locks bobbing up and down behind the tree as a little girl   
was playing hide and seek with him.  
  
Wait a minute, hadn`t Chibi-Usa matured and turned into a red haired   
woman? This made no sense, unless Chibi-Usa had come into the past   
from a different point in time BEFORE the dark moon had attacked his   
daughter`s kingdom... or was it the dark kingdom who had threatened   
the future? He could never tell these two apart.  
  
"Chibi-Usa, is that you?" he said, slowly creeping up on her not to   
scare her off.  
  
Turning around the tree, he saw the cutest three year old girl he   
had ever seen, with pink hair tied in odango like Ikuko had done for   
Usagi, and sparkling red eyes filled with joy. He tried to talk her,   
but could only stutter in surprise.  
  
"Chibi... Chibi?" he blurted out.  
  
"Chibi Chibi!!!" repeated the little girl, laughing.  
  
Kenji was at a loss. Who was this little girl? Another one of Usagi`s   
daughters??? He took her in his arms and brought her into the house.   
Maybe his daughter might be able to give her some answers.  
  
Usagi and Ikuko were first to see the cute toddler as Kenji brought   
her in. She elicited looks blending in both confusion, interrogation   
and admiration.  
  
"She`s sooooo cuuuuute!" said Usagi, patting her head. The little   
girl giggled. "Who is she?"  
  
"I don`t know. She was hiding in front of the house, I thought maybe   
you could enlighten us, seeing how you always seem to have answers   
for every bizarre occurance in this town." said Kenji who didn`t   
know whether to be angry or not.  
  
"Could she be your child, Usagi? Could she be Chibi... I mean Usako`s   
sister?" asked Ikuko.  
  
"Not that I know of... what`s her name, anyway?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"Chibi Chibi!!!" repeated the little girl.  
  
"She seems to be called Chibi Chibi... suits her, I think." observed   
Kenji.  
  
Usako came from the living room to the lobby, wondering what was   
happening. Chibi Chibi immediately bolted out of Kenji`s arms and   
ran to Usako, bouncing in her arms and hugging her very hard. She   
had the biggest of smiles on her adorable face.  
  
"Usako-mama!!!" she yelled in joy.  
  
"Oooooh boy..." uttered Usako as all the stares in the room were   
locked on her.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	36. A Splinter Of Darkness

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
Kaolinite screamed as she awoke from her restless two hours of sleep,   
her badly healed chest wound tearing out painful tears from her   
blood shot eyes. Her shaking hands reached hesitantly to her   
nightstand, her bedroom`s darkness masking the location of the   
elusive plastic container filled with the pain killers she had now   
grown addicted to.  
  
Ripping the lip off the small container, she swallowed a few   
regardless that it had been less than the recommended four hours   
since her last dose. The vodka bottle on the floor next to her bed   
would provide Kaolinite with the extra kick to forget the gut   
wrenching torture that her wounded body had been imposing her ever   
since that deadly encounter with Ronmar, the dread lord of darkness.  
  
Moving to sit up in her bed, she felt something sticky on her skin.  
  
"Oh shit, not again... NOT AGAIN!!!" she said in frustration.  
  
Turning on the lamp on her nightstand, Kaolinite saw the large half   
coagulated blood stain on her bedsheets. The wound had somehow   
reopened itself again, the skin refusing to heal regardless of the   
intensive amount of surgeries she already went through. Even without   
the massive amount of internal damage the initial blow had dealt her,   
the long term results from the terrible cut through her thorax were   
still more than enough to make her life a living nightmare. A true  
tribute to the deadly techniques used by the dread knight, the arts   
of darkness.  
  
She had always promised herself to never cry, to not show weakness.   
Most of her life she had kept that promise, but the arrival of the   
gold clad warrior in her life had changed all that in a quick flash   
of cold steel.  
  
Kaolinite cried once again, feeling sorry for herself. Why hadn`t   
she died along with the others that fateful night of june? Why was   
she still there to suffer while her collegues... no, her friends...   
were resting in the great beyond?  
  
Many times she had considered taking her own life. She had almost   
done it just the previous day, while she was waiting for a red light   
to change on her way back home. She saw the heavy truck barreling   
down the street at full speed, and she had been inching forward into   
its path ever so slowly until she was almost right in its way. A   
helpful hand had pulled her out of harm`s way only an instant before   
she took the final, deadly step, her kind hearted savior obviously   
unaware of the endless pain that had become her daily lot. She had   
thanked him absent-mindedly and went home thinking no more of it   
until just now.  
  
"DAMN YOU KNIGHTMARE BASTARD!" she yelled out as she tossed the empty   
bottle to the wall where it smashed to pieces. The wounded scientist   
doubled over in pain as this sudden and brutal move further   
aggravated her freshly reopened wound. Kaolinite immediately   
refocused her mind on her work objectives, the only thing that had   
any effectiveness in numbing the pain until the drugs she took in   
dangerous amounts would hit her blood stream.  
  
She had gone over EVERY point of the daemon egg theory, from initial   
design to final completion as specified in the complete works of   
professor Tomoe. There was nothing more she could add to this   
design, as her former boss' genius had ensured total perfection in   
the final process used by the death busters to collect heart   
crystals.  
  
There had to be more, but daemon egg perfecting was a dead end for   
sure.  
  
Then a flash of insight came to her... something totally unexpected.   
She remembered the manga that Mimete enjoyed reading so much, the   
same manga she confiscated many times over from the blonde witch   
because she would read it instead of doing her data research   
regarding pure hearts prospects.  
  
What was it called again? "Golgothian Warriors", the story of giant   
war machine pilots fighting overwhelming odds to defend earth against   
alien invaders. A classic in giant robot manga. She remembered   
hearing Mimete mentionning something about "the pilots not being   
upgradable, but the machines being under a constant improvement   
process". THAT was the answer! If she couldn`t improve on the eggs,   
she`d improve on the host shell!  
  
"How hard could that be?" she wondered. After all, what had they   
used so far to host the daemon eggs? A door knob, a beach ball, a   
jigsaw puzzle, a plastic skeleton model... not exactly top grade   
material here.  
  
With the rush of drugs and alcohol kicking in, Kaolinite went to   
sleep with a smile on her face for the first time in months. She   
didn`t give a damn about her blood stained sheets anymore, as her   
inspiration gave her something to look forward to other than the   
final release of death...  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 36  
  
A SPLINTER OF DARKNESS  
  
  
Dokuryo paced in the small condominium that Thorelia had bought with   
the money she made as a famed sculptress in human society. He was   
VERY nervous ever since he and his lover had escaped from the north   
pole fortress of Aebonite mere moments before it was destroyed by   
the sailor senshi. He knew that the power of command now rested   
solely in the hands of Beryl`s daughter, Crystallite, and that   
things were bound to change in the command structure as she   
reorganized her dark empire to her every whim.  
  
Looking around at the earlier works of Thorelia, he couldn`t help   
but feel awestruck at the immense talent she possessed. It was what   
attracted him to her in the first place, this way she had of making   
even the most warped creature a thing of beauty. Furthermore, she   
had accepted his rather peculiar anatomy as being his true self, a   
reason to be proud of himself and not feel ashamed of.  
  
He loved her with all his heart. He was afraid something was going   
to happen that would tear them apart.  
  
Dokuryo felt a jolt of fear grasp his heart. A dark presence was   
seeping in the house, and it scared the hell out of him.  
  
"Who`s there?" he asked, looking around and seeing nothing.  
  
"I am Black Baron." said a disembodied voice coming from a shifting   
shadow.  
  
"Black... Baron?" he uttered in terror.  
  
"Yes, your... replacement." said the shadow as it formed a fluid   
semi-solid form more or less human in shape.  
  
"Did Crystallite send you here?" asked Dokuryo.  
  
"Yes." answered the voice whose point of origin seemed not to be   
fixed in place.  
  
"What has she planned for me, now that you are her second in   
command?" asked the toxic dragon, afraid of his answer.  
  
"She left that up to me... personaly, I hate to leave things   
unfinished."  
  
As the words rang out ominously, black flames light up around   
Dokuryo`s feet in a six feet wide circle. The heat was very intense,   
and even his thick hide could barely protect him. He screamed out   
in pain, alerting Thorelia who woke up and came running into her   
small studio after throwing on a light nightgown. She was horrified   
when she saw what was happening.  
  
"DOKURYO!" she yelled out.  
  
"Stay away, Thorelia, save yourself!" screamed the reptilian man,   
as the flames were starting to eat his clothes.  
  
"Yes, I have no quarrel with you, faceless one." agreed the cold   
emotionless voice.  
  
"No, I won`t let it end like this!" she said, grabbng a nearby   
chisel and running to the shadowy figure, slashing uselessly into   
the creature of night.  
  
"You cannot harm me..." whispered Black Baron. "Your boyfriend will   
die."  
  
The agony of Dokuryo ripped her heart. She loved him too much to   
stand there doing nothing, even if that meant doing something   
foolish... she jumped through to fire, and into his arms.  
  
"I love you..." she whispered, the fiery air burning her lungs as it   
ate her skin.  
  
"I love you too..." he whispered back before the fire did too much   
damage and both of them fell victim to the intense heat devouring   
their bodies. The fell down together, never leaving each other`s   
embrace as their corpses got charred beyond recognition.  
  
"And so it goes." simply said Black Baron, abandonning the two   
smoking bodies as the flames died down.   
  
* * *  
  
Ikuko, Usagi and Usako all sat on the living room couch, staring at   
the cutest little three year old girl that was smiling happily as   
she ate the breakfast Ikuko had made for her. Despite the fact that   
the initial shock had worn off, they were still baffled as to the   
origin of this enigma that called herself "Chibi Chibi".  
  
To rule out the most obvious answers, they had called in two of   
their smartest friends, Umino and Ami who were set up in the kitchen   
with their respective laptops. Ami, with her Mercury blue computer,   
was trying to determine the genetic profile of the girl while Umino   
scoured the Tokyo data banks for hospital and police records.  
  
"She wasn`t born in Tokyo, or Japan for that matter." confirmed   
Umino. "There haven`t been any children disappearances in the last   
month, and all those prior to that were of kids that didn`t match   
Chibi Chibi`s description." he added, removing his glasses to rub   
his tired eyes. He couldn`t wait until his web page design side job   
had earned him enough cash to afford that corrective laser surgery   
he had wanted for years.  
  
"And her DNA scan is inconclusive. She has some sort of inner power   
that messes up my scans." said Ami. "With this kind of power, she   
could very well be your child, Usako."  
  
Chibi Chibi smiled and ran to Usako again, hugging her with all the   
strenght of her little arms.  
  
"I love you!" she said, giggling.  
  
Usako looked at Usagi and noticed that she was obviously begin to   
cry. "What`s the matter, mom?" she wondered.  
  
"I`m too young to be graaaaaaandmotheeeeeer!!!" she wailed loudly.  
  
"And what about me, young lady?!" replied Ikuko. "I`m a   
great-grandmother and I haven`t even hit forty yet!!!"  
  
"Let`s not be too hasty here... we still don`t know WHO she is, or   
if Chibi Chibi is even her real name." said Ami as she unplugged   
Umino`s laptop from hers and turned it off. "But she`s something   
strange, an unknown variable. I think we should protect her."  
  
"I will, trust me. I will watch over her as if she were my own   
daughter!" promised Usako.  
  
Usagi and Ikuko both let out a deep sigh of desperation. This could   
only mean trouble the likes of which hadn`t been seen since the first   
day of Chibi-Usa`s stay in twentieth century Tokyo.  
  
At this moment, Luna came down from the stairs, yawning and surprised   
that everyone was already up by seven thirty. She had spent most of   
the night out looking unsuccessfuly for Artemis, and had slept like   
a log the instant she returned home.  
  
"Who`s this?" wondered Luna as she saw the cute girl.  
  
"KITTY!!!" yelled Chibi Chibi in joy as she saw the black cat. She   
outstretched her arms forward to try and reach for Luna.  
  
"Oooooh no, you don`t!" hissed Luna, backing down and puffing up her   
fur to look big.  
  
"Oh come on, Luna, she`s just a harmless kid!" said Usagi.  
  
"No way, I`m not a plaything!" she protested.  
  
Usako got down on the floor to Luna`s level and used every ounce of   
sugary sweet cuteness she had to convince the cat to let herself be   
petted by the little girl.  
  
"Please, Luna? Pretty please with pink sugar hearts on top???"  
  
The sparkling red eyes of the scarlet lady were so full of sweetness   
that not even Luna could resist her.  
  
"Okay, you win... but if she pulls my tail, I`m out of there!!!"   
conceded the cat.  
  
* * *  
  
No creatures of the night are able to withstand the harsh light of   
the morning sun, not even the greater knightmares. The golden rays   
of day are able to neutralize most of the darkness based powers, and   
they know it well.  
  
Unfortunately, a grandmaster of the arts of darkness fears not the   
brightest sun.  
  
The shifting forms of the monstrous Black Baron appeared within the   
music conservatory where he was on his way to strike at his first   
two targets.  
  
Taking advantage of the empty corridors, he summoned one of his many   
servants, the corrupted souls known as the BLIGHTED ONES. Out of the   
many folds of his shadowy cape of sorts walked out the very solid   
form of a three feet tall humanoid being entirely dressed in black   
clothes reminiscent of those of desert nomads.  
  
"What are my orders, Darkness?" asked the high pitch feminine voice.  
  
Out of nowhere appeared in the half solid hand of the grandmaster   
two cards, those given to him by Crystallite. He handed them both to   
her so she may see them.  
  
"What am I to do?" asked the lost soul.  
  
"Make me proud." replied a disembodied voice as the form of Black   
Baron vanished along with the cards.  
  
"It shall be done, Darkness... you will be proud of me."  
  
* * *  
  
To her surprise, Luna felt remarkably good in the care of Chibi   
Chibi, the small hands rubbing her in all the places she liked so   
much, making her purr like she hadn`t done in decades. In all the   
centuries she lived, Luna hadn`t met anyone with as soft a touch   
aside from her dear friend Queen Serenity in the moon kingdom. She   
was even letting herself fall over in the most undignified position   
so that Chibi Chibi could rub her stomach better.  
  
"Oh, she`s amazing!!!" thought the cat. She was lying on the lap of   
the girl, on her back with all four legs open wide and her head   
thrown back. This felt so good... in this reversed position she saw   
the upside-down entrance of Umino`s girlfriend Naru.  
  
"Enjoying yourself, Luna?" she asked. "So you must be Chibi Chibi,   
Usagi told me about you over the phone! My, you really ARE the cutest   
little girl I`ve ever seen!"  
  
Chibi Chibi giggled, then jumped off the couch to run into the   
kitchen to find Usako again, leaving on the floor the very relaxed   
Luna who would have wanted more of this marvelous massage. "Usako   
mama!!! Hungry!!!" she said as she ran past Ami who was getting   
ready to leave.  
  
"She is soooo cute!" said Ami, looking at the sweet girl and wishing   
she had a daughter herself.  
  
"If I had a daughter, she`d be just like that... well, in my head   
she is anyway!" added Naru.  
  
"You wanted to see me today, Naru, you said it was very important."   
said Ami, changing subject.  
  
"YES!" replied Naru, remembering what she had planned. "Remember you   
wondered if it was possible for the senshi to recharge their built   
up power to unleash another ultimate attack?"  
  
"Yes, and Usagi suggested that the messiah might be able to help   
us."  
  
"She was right." told Naru, winking. "Let`s go, you`re first up!"  
  
Without giving Ami a chance to reply, Naru grabbed her by the wrist   
and flung her winter coat on her shoulders as she dragged Ami   
outside.  
  
* * *  
  
A sleek red sportscar pulled into the main parking of the music   
conservatory, coming to a sudden stop in a manoeuver that only an   
expert pilot could pull off without swerving out of control. The   
doors opened to let out the very chic Haruka in a pinstripe suit and   
short black winter coat while Michiru opted for a feminine blouse   
and skirt, her legs protected from cold by her long falling aqua   
coat. She picked up her violin case from the back seat and breathed   
in the invigorating winter air which was crisp and not too cold to   
cause discomfort.  
  
"It was so nice the way the weather turned out when we trashed that   
freak Aebonite." observed Haruka.  
  
"Yes, it`s so lovely around here with all these trees covered in   
frost, don`t you think?" asked Michiru, looking all around her at   
the wonderful scenery.  
  
"It is lovely..." agreed Haruka who was looking not at the nature   
filled decor, but rather at her seductive fiancee.  
  
"I heard what you just thought." said Michiru, giggling.  
  
"Huh? Is that some new talent you got from soul power?" asked Haruka,   
caught off guard by this accurate observation.  
  
"Not really. I just know you very well, my love..." replied Michiru,   
staring lovingly into her girlfriend`s eyes.  
  
"We have a few minutes before your practice, how about we go for a   
walk?" suggested Haruka.  
  
Michiru smiled silently and cuddled her, holding her by the waist.   
They walked along the wooded paths all by themselves with no one   
around them, save that one small black dressed figure which followed   
them like a veteran hunter.  
  
"I`ll make you proud..." it whispered inaudibly.  
  
* * *  
  
"Something is odd." mumbled Yaten, dropping his video game   
controller.  
  
"Yaten`s taste in manga, but I thought it was too obvious to even be   
worth mentionning." snapped Seiya as he practiced his guitar sitting   
on the three light`s living room couch next to Taiki.  
  
"Shut up!" yelled Yaten from across the room. "No... not 'odd' weird,   
but rather... evil... dark... pugnant even." explained the shortest   
of the three brothers, turning off the game.  
  
A cold silence caught the other two, returning them to a more   
concerned state of mind.  
  
"Where?!?" asked Seiya.  
  
"Is it... what we`ve been sent here to find?" asked Taiki.  
  
"Maybe, but it feels too weak yet." answered Yaten.  
  
"Let`s check it out anyway. We can`t take chances with this." said   
Taiki.  
  
"Agreed." concluded the two others.  
  
* * *  
  
"Say, Naru, why did we come here?" asked Ami as Naru`s car pulled off   
in a secluded part of the woodlands outside of Tokyo.  
  
"To get your power up to its fullest, silly! Why else?" she answered.   
Taking the key out of the ignition, she pointed in the distance to a   
magnificient waterfall vigorously pouring hundreds of gallons of ice   
cold water into a partly frozen miniature lake feeding a budding   
river.  
  
"Oh, it`s glorious!" commented Ami.  
  
"Come on, friend, this is where we`re going." said naru.  
  
They both left the car, enjoying this beautiful winter day. The thick   
cover of pale clouds hanging overhead helped a lot to make it a cool,   
comfortable day for a nice walk. The sun peered through the clouds as   
well, making a barely visible glowing disk in the winter sky.  
  
As they reached the half frozen lake, Naru halted and motionned Ami   
to do the same.  
  
"Here. You must transform now." she said.  
  
Ami nodded and proceeded to become her senshi self. "MERCURY SOUL   
POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
A golden glow irradiated Ami`s body, removing her royal blue skirt,   
blouse and coat to replace them with her Sailor Mercury fuku. Five   
metallic glints flashed in turn as her visor and guards covered her   
eyes, forearms and chins. When her transformation was completed, she   
noticed that Naru`s appearance had changed as well, as she was now   
wearing the same dress and breastplate as when she was first revealed   
as the messiah by the prayers of the eleven senshi.  
  
"What must I do now?" asked Mercury.  
  
"You must go sit on the rock and meditate on the nature of your   
immortal soul. The first time you did this in a moment of crisis, but   
now you must do it in a peaceful manner and delve deeper than you   
ever have before. Only then can you truly understand yourself."   
explained Naru.  
  
"That rock over there?" asked Mercury pointing to a rock stuck in   
the thick coat of ice covering the greater part of the lake.  
  
"No, over there." corrected the messiah, pointing to another boulder   
pelted by the brunt of the cascading waterfall.  
  
"YOU MUST BE JOKING! IN THE ICE COLD WATER?!?" protested Mercury.  
  
"I`m perfectly serious. In, as you say, the ice cold water."  
  
* * *  
  
"I think something is watching us, Haruka." whispered Michiru in a   
nervous voice.  
  
"You mean someone?"  
  
"No, someTHING, I`m sure it`s not human at all..."  
  
Haruka took a quick look around, but couldn`t see anything. Even   
though everything looked calm, she suddenly felt a sensation of dread   
come over her. Michiru, who was much more sensitive than she was,   
had surely felt this the instant it had started, she thought.  
  
"Can you tell what it is?" whispered Haruka, holding Michiru tight   
against her in a protective manner.  
  
A huge beastial scream arose from forty feet behind them, hidden   
behind the trees. Out of its hiding place came a huge monster, an   
aberration upon nature. Eight feet tall, it had very dark armored   
skin, disproportionately long arms, huge fangs in its large jaws and   
its fingers were no more than monstrous claws having no articulations   
to make them prehensile digits. The ground shook under each step the   
beast took, its chest heaving as it breathed in the crisp cold air  
to breathe out noxious fumes.  
  
"It`s that thing..." said Michiru, pointing out the obvious in an   
uncharacteristic display of smart aleck humor.  
  
A long growl greeted the two young women as the monster flailed its   
arms, slicing down several tree trunks in the process. It began   
moving towards them, intent on doing the same with their bodies.  
  
"I`m not letting that thing hurt you, my love... URANUS SOUL POWER   
TRANSFORM!"  
  
"Me neither! NEPTUNE SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
And so began the fight between the senshi and this strange creature.  
  
* * *  
  
It had been quite a while now that Sailor Mercury had been sitting in   
a stiff lotus position underneath a large waterfall, her entire body   
totally chilled by the frosty water cascading upon her body. She felt   
completely frigid by now, her skin gone numb since the instant the  
cold liquid had drenched her fuku and infiltrated her boots and   
gloves, but the messiah, her spiritual guide, had insisted.  
  
At first she could only think of images of hot coffee and fireplaces,   
but these primal urges of self preservation had gradually vanished   
to leave way for deeper questions of self awareness just like Naru   
had told her would happen.  
  
She was getting close, she could almost taste it.  
  
* * *  
  
Armed with their sacred weapons Heaven`s Wrath and Monsoon, Sailor   
Uranus and Sailor Neptune were trying their best to keep the hulking   
monster down, but try as they might nothing seemed to be able to   
subdue the creature.  
  
"WORLD SHAKING!!!" screamed Uranus.  
  
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!!" yelled Neptune.  
  
The earth shook and mystical waters flooded the area as the two   
senshi attacked flew to the blighted one, connecting brutally with   
its chest but not doing any apparent damage.  
  
"Can`t we call the others for reinforcements???" suggested Uranus.  
  
"Tried already, something is jamming our signals!" replied Neptune   
as she dodged a claw swipe. Although it merely grazed her, the blow   
nonetheless drew blood as a painful wound was torn across her back.   
Neptune fell to the ground as the searing pain tore her body.  
  
"MICHIRU!!!" screamed Uranus who then rushed the monster with her   
onyx katana. Her anger fueled blow cost the beast its balance and it   
fell backwards, but was otherwise undamaged. Because the beast had   
such poor balance, this would buy Uranus a few precious seconds.  
  
"Are you all right?" she asked her lover as she helped her back up.  
  
"Yes, I will be..." whispered Michiru, trying to hide her pain.   
"Haruka, you must promise me something..."  
  
"Anything, my love, just ask!"  
  
"When I tell you to... you will not hesitate a second to summon your   
world shaking..."  
  
"You got it!!!"  
  
"...and aim it at ME!" finished Michiru.  
  
"WHAT?!?"  
  
"Do you trust me?"  
  
"Yes, but..." protested Haruka who got nervous as the monster was   
slowly wrestling back to its feet.  
  
"Then promise me!" insisted Michiru.  
  
"All right... I promise!"  
  
Neptune smiled as she heard Uranus say those words. "We have an   
abomination to kill now." she said, turning her eyes to the blighted   
one.  
  
* * *  
  
Time seemed to flow slower around Mercury as her meditation led her   
to summits of inner peace she had never reached before. Following   
some instinctive impulse, she slowly got up to her feet and summoned   
her mystical bow Deadshot, which she held up in the position of the   
archer awaiting the order to fire her lethal weapon.  
  
And still she waited.  
  
* * *  
  
Sailor Uranus really had no idea what Neptune had in mind, but she   
loved her and trusted her implicitly... which is why they were now   
running along the main path leading back to the parking lot of the   
conservatory. She would have preferred facing the beast face to face,   
but Neptune had insisted she had a plan... and besides that thing   
didn`t seem to take any kind of damage at all from whatever attack   
they threw at it.  
  
"Keep running, Uranus! We`re almost there!" urged Neptune`s voice   
from behind her.  
  
"You better have a damn good plan, love, 'cause that thing is running   
behind us and it`s much faster than it looks!!!" responded Uranus.  
  
Suddenly, it occured to her that she didn`t feel her lover`s presence   
close to her anymore. Stopping and turning around, she saw that over   
a hundred feet behind her Neptune was standing immobile in the path,   
Monsoon in her hands... and that abomination was barreling down in   
her direction.  
  
"What are you doing there?!?" yelled Uranus.  
  
"Remember your promise, Uranus... NOW!!!" she responded, looking the   
monster straight in the eyes as it was running to reach grasping   
range of the senshi of oceans.  
  
She hesitated to do so, but remembered her promise. Never before had   
she broken a promise to the only love in her life, and now would not   
be an exception. Surely she had an idea in that clever brain of   
hers...  
  
"WORLD SHAKING!!!" she screamed, forming a bolt of energy in her hand   
which she violently slammed in the ground to form a soaring ball of   
force that screeched towards Neptune. It picked up more and more   
speed and power as it got closer, until the very last instant before   
it hit her when she jumped sideways, throwing forward Monsoon which   
was engulfed inside Uranus' attack and propelled with insane strength   
in a direct collision course to the huge dark creature.  
  
* * *  
  
Feeling a sudden contact with the deepest part of herself like no   
other she had ever felt in her entire existance, not even when the   
youma Ganeshya almost killed her and revealed her soul power,   
Mercury then knew true power.  
  
Without thinking or hesitating, she rose her bow high up, an ice   
arrow forming on the string as she pulled it tightly backwards.   
Energy began to swirl aroung the tip of the ice shaft, a small   
magnetic container forming to isolate a single water molecule whose   
temperature fell rapidly as its heat was ejected into the air   
surrounding the senshi of ice.  
  
"ABSOLUTE..."  
  
The single water molecule`s atomic vibrations stopped as its   
temperature dropped to the point where it could not sustain any   
kinetic energy, absolute zero.  
  
"...ZERO..."  
  
The projectile ready, Mercury pulled on the bow string with all her   
strenght... then released it.  
  
"...DEEP FREEZE!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
The ball of energy exploded with mind shattering force as it   
connected with the creature`s armored chest, giving the lapis-lazuli   
trident enough power to pierce the armor and tear a path for itself   
all the way through the blighted one that fell down immediately,   
dying as its thick blood oozed out of its gaping wound.  
  
"Yeah, you did it Michiru!" said Uranus, running back to Neptune.  
  
"No... WE did it, Haruka." she corrected, kissing her passionately.  
  
Then something horrible happened. The body of the dying beast started   
to shift, reducing in size and taking normal human proportions. It   
continued reducing even after it had taken the size of a human adult.  
  
"Oh... my... god..." whispered Michiru, tears forming in her eyes.  
  
"What have we done?" mumbled Haruka.  
  
The blighted one finished her sinister transformation, returning to   
her true form: a small innocent looking eight year old girl. Her   
body was horribly mutilated from the senshi attack, and she would   
quickly die from her wide chest wound.  
  
"All I wanted was to make Black Baron proud of me..." she whispered   
before dying of massive internal damage and hemorraging.  
  
Michiru fell to her knees, crying in shame over what she had just   
done. Haruka felt hard pressed to cry, so she expressed herself the   
best way she knew how: by taking her sword and unleashing her rage   
on some nearby trees that the blighted one had ripped out of the   
ground during the fight, screaming as she mindlessly bashed the   
dead wood.  
  
Behind them, a shifting mass of shadow formed into a semi humanoid   
shape that was Black Baron.  
  
"They are ready to yield to me now." he thought.  
  
* * *  
  
The ice arrow carrying the absolute zero charge shielded in a minute   
magnetic sphere surged upwards, flying skywards until it reached the   
zenith of its trajectory. It then dissolved the shield, exposing the   
absolute zero water molecule to the ambient air. The horrifyingly   
cold explosion which followed created a subzero cold shockwave that   
expanded outwards of the detonation point, freezing everything in its   
path and covering all it touched in a thin layer of ice.  
  
The waterfall cascading over the immobile Sailor Mercury in firing   
position was frozen as well, encasing the senshi in a tall pillar of   
solidified water. The overcast sky then began to clear itself from   
the aftershock of the ultimate attack, the emerging sun glithering   
over the smooth surface of the improvised ice statue.  
  
The nearby messiah released herself from the half inch of ice that   
covered her whole body, glad to see that her friend had succeeded in   
achieving a new summit of personal power.  
  
"Now if she could only free herself from that ice... shouldn`t take   
too long." she thought.  
  
* * *  
  
Lifting up his hands, Black Baron pointed to the two distraught   
senshi, feeling their negative emotions and calling them forth to   
surface in a way only one of true darkness could. Both of them   
screamed at once as black energy surged through their bodies.  
  
Over each of their hearts formed a small jagged piece of black   
crystal which, upon formation, flew right into the hands of the   
grandmaster of darkness. A golden halo sorrounded the two young   
women, their senshi fuku disappearing into nothing and their normal   
clothes returning in their place. The black katana and light blue   
trident of the two senshi cracked, fissures forming over the entire   
length of the weapons which then shattered into dozens of fractured   
shards.  
  
They stopped yelling, falling unconscious from such a terrible   
strain.  
  
Black Baron laughed, then vanished with the two dark splinters ripped   
out of their souls.  
  
* * *  
  
A long fissure formed along the pillar of ice that had been a   
waterfall only a few seconds before Sailor Mercury`s absolute zero   
deep freeze turned it into a prison of solid water. Naru smiled   
because she knew that it wouldn`t hold her ally much longer.  
  
A defeaning crash resounded in the small valley as the ice pillar   
exploded under the assault of the girl trapped within. The victorious   
Sailor Mercury emerged, holding up Deadshot in a sign of triumph. Her   
fuku had changed slightly from this new surge of power she`d   
experienced, more pieces of armor being added to the others: shoulder   
pads, a full breastplate bearing the sign of mercury on the front and   
an extension to her leg guards that now covered the front of her   
thighs. The kanji on the fabric of her right tigh were hidden under   
the armored protection, but they had been engraved on the extension   
of her leg armor in a proud display of senshi honor.  
  
Her sacred weapon had been altered as well, the sapphire carvings   
being highlighted by subtle additions of pure silver along the frame.  
  
"Thank you for showing me the way, friend. I owe you a great debt."   
said the senshi.  
  
"Think nothing of it. You always knew where to find this strenght, I   
just walked along your path for a short while. From now on you will   
always be able to meditate in any place and recharge your inner   
powers to perform your ultimate attack again." explained the   
messiah.  
  
"How about we go home now? These wet clothes are freezing me stiff."   
asked Ami.  
  
"Sure thing. I`ll set the heater to max on the way back!" agreed   
Naru.  
  
* * *  
  
Three sleek feminine silhouettes reached the site where the terrible   
battle had taken place and remained hidden to observe what was going   
on. They could only contemplate their own failure to get there on   
time, Haruka and Michiru crying helplessly in each other`s arms. A   
few feet away from them was the broken body of a young child wearing   
torn black clothes, lying in a frozen pool of her own blood.  
  
Everywhere about them laid the smashed pieces of their sacred   
weapons.  
  
"We failed." said the tallest silhouette.  
  
"But we`re on the right track nonetheless, I can feel it!" said the   
shortest one.  
  
"Let`s just hope we can reach our goal before more lives are broken."   
added the third one.  
  
With swift superhuman bounds, the three mysterious women left the   
scene in a hurry. They had no business left there, so they abandonned   
the heartbroken Michiru and Haruka to try and close the open wounds   
their souls had just suffered. It caused them even more suffering   
than the many slashes the blighted ones had dealt them with her sharp   
claws...  
  
* * *  
  
Epilogue...  
  
  
Later that night, Robin went outside her house wondering where Haruka   
and Michiru could be. They should have been back from Michiru`s   
concert practice by now. Hotaru was in good hands with her aunt   
Setsuna right now, but she was beginning to protest as she missed   
her mom and dad.  
  
"I wonder what romantic thing they could be doing right now..." she   
said, looking up at the clear sky.  
  
She sat on the front porch, looking up at the moon slowly growing   
dark as the earth`s trajectory gradually blocked the sunlight from   
the bright astral body that faded away from view into a glorious   
eclipse.  
  
"I read about those often... you told me about them, dad, explained   
how they happened, but you never told me how beautiful it is."   
thought the young lady. "And what about love, dad, is there anything   
about it you might have forgotten to mention?"  
  
She sat there for well over two hours until the shimmering moon was   
no more than a dark disk with a faint glow, barely visible but to   
the most sensitive eyes which Technuma had thoughtfully provided for   
her when he created her genetic sequence.  
  
A faint flicker peered through the blackened moon for an instant,   
and Robin noticed that it was a piece of paper falling down in her   
direction. She got up and walked down the front stairs to catch it,   
and found herself excited to notice that this was an advertisement   
flyer.  
  
"COOL!" she thought. "Here`s something I`ve never been to before!"  
  
The flyer in question announced the upcoming arrival of a special   
performance group...  
  
"Coming soon to Tokyo,  
the magic is about to start as we shake up your world!  
  
Tigers, clows and acrobats galore,  
magicians, trapezists and many more!!!  
  
Get ready to experience the ultimate in entertainment!  
  
Get ready to go where all dreams come true!  
  
Get ready for the dead dead dead  
  
DEAD MOON CIRCUS!!!"  
  
  
To be continued...  



	37. First Ones To Fall

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
Three years ago...  
  
  
It was a very slow night for the dark kingdom forces at their secret   
fortress in north pole`s D-point. The latest plan designed by Kunzite   
to grab Sailor Moon`s silver crystal had failed miserably once again,   
leaving the general sad and sulking in the dark palace`s room which   
had the closest ressemblance to what the humans called a bar.  
  
He had gone through an entire bottle of a thick, spicy orange liquid   
that burned all the way down to his stomach. And still he wanted to   
have more.  
  
"Damn. That insufferable brat will be the end of me... she already   
cost my poor Zoicite his life, could this possibly get worse?" he   
thought out loud.  
  
"I think it will get worse before it gets better, loser!" said the   
contemptuous Endymion, mocking his rival`s futile efforts.  
  
"I had to open my big mouth..." thought Kunzite. "What do you want   
now?" he asked.  
  
"To see you crash and burn, of course." replied the brainwashed   
prince of earth. "But aside from that, Beryl sent me here to tell   
you she wants to hear your next plan to get the crystal. She`s  
expecting you right now."  
  
Oh great, thought Kunzite. I don`t have the faintest idea what to do   
next and this puny puppet of Beryl will be there to see me arise her   
anger!  
  
Walking along the empty corridors leading to the bustling throne   
room which he heard in the distance, Kunzite would have given   
anything to have a distraction, something that would keep his   
queen`s mind off his string of failures that could only end in   
disaster unless he managed to get his hands on the crystal, and   
give her Sailor Moon`s severed head as a peace offering.  
  
Ask and you shall receive, goes the saying. At the very instant   
Kunzite and Endymion were about to enter the huge dome shaped room   
dominated by a gigantic statue of Metalia, a scream of terror  
erupted behind them some hundred feet away, along with a menacing   
growl.  
  
"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!!!" resounded a loud alarm signal.  
  
"Who could possibly be stupid enough to attack us in a frontal   
assault?" wondered Kunzite.  
  
"We`ll know in just a second..." replied Endymion, unsheating his   
sword for the dark mass that was barreling down the corridor in   
their direction.  
  
It only took an instant for the brutish creature to be upon them, a   
furious manwolf seven feet tall with disproportionately large   
muscles. His vicious claws and fangs flew in a deadly dance of   
blood, and the two men in his way were no match for him.  
  
Their uniforms shredded and their bodies covered in bleeding bruises,   
they could only watch as Fenris Wolfang, the most powerful manwolf   
assassin in history, was making a run for his latest target: the one   
person in this world Beryl actually cared for in any way.  
  
"Stop him, he`s heading for my daughter`s room!" screamed Beryl to   
her youma hordes who huddled in front of the doorway leading to   
Crystallite`s living quarters. It mattered not to the manwolf who   
tore them apart like so many rag dolls, tossing their dismembered   
carcasses aside to bleed themselves to death.  
  
Even Beryl attempted to stop him, sending a sharp piece of black   
crystal in his direction which he easily avoided. Entering the   
doorway, Beryl knew that her daughter would have to save herself if   
she was to survive this murderous creature`s assault.  
  
Crystallite knew this was coming. She had sensed the danger to her   
life the very instant that the assassin had entered the fortress,   
and that his unflinching rage would lead him right to her in no   
time. She had to act quick, or else she would die. Picking up the   
few special items she needed to complete the spell she`d been   
working on for a few minutes now, she began to whisper the words to   
the enchantment that was her last hope. She still missed one final   
spell component for this potent magic she was weaving, but she`d get   
it soon, she was sure of it.  
  
The doors to the bedroom blasted open in a thousand shards of   
mahogany, the hulking lupine beast shook the ground with each heavy   
step he took. He had to weigh at least four hundred pounds, all of   
it muscle. Undeterred, Crystallite kept on whispering the power   
words of the only magic that could help her now. Taking a victorious   
step forward, Fenris plunged his right hand into her chest claws   
outstretched, carving a deep wound which spurted blood everywhere.   
Still reciting her magical wordings, Crystallite fell down and   
quickly fainted, hemorraging herself to a quick death.  
  
Fenris let out a loud yell of triumph, raising up his blood covered   
hand in pride. Just as he was about to strike it down to crush the   
young girl`s skull, he felt the blood of Crystallite covering his   
skin beginning to heat up, burn and boil, very painfully forcing its   
way into his own body. Driven by magic, the blood of Crystallite   
mingled with his in a way that he never could have thought   
possible...  
  
Looking down on the mortally wounded heir of Beryl, he suddenly   
felt concerned for her, as if a huge claw was crushing his heart at   
the idea she might die right there.  
  
"NO!" he screamed, picking her up in his arms like a broken doll and   
carrying her back to the throne room as her chest wound bled all over   
his fur. "SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP HER, SHE`S DYING!!!" he screamed in   
despair, tears flowing from his eyes.  
  
The youma which had survived the initial attack got ready to move in   
for the kill, but Beryl ordered them to stand down.  
  
"She`s enchanted him with her own blood..." she said, snickering.   
"He`s HERS now!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 37  
  
FIRST ONES TO FALL  
  
  
A soft knock came at the door to the home of the outer senshi,   
announcing the arrival of Usagi, Mamoru, Umino and Naru. They had   
heard from Rei about what had happened and came as quickly as they   
possibly could.  
  
"Thanks for being here, we really could use some help..." said Robin   
as she opened the front door and showed them in.  
  
"When did they return?" asked Mamoru, worried about Michiru and   
Haruka.  
  
"And why didn`t they call us for help?" added Usagi.  
  
"You`ll understand when you see them..." said Robin, trying really   
hard to hold back her tears.  
  
She took them to their bedroom where Setsuna was keeping a watchful   
eye over them. They were laid side by side on their bed, seemingly   
asleep yet apparently conscious of their surroundings somehow. Their   
bodies shivered from cold even though the room was very warm, and   
they were completely covered with sweat.  
  
"Some jogger found them in the park next to the music conservatory   
where Michiru was supposed to play, but the doctors can`t find   
anything wrong with them... Rei thinks their souls are mortally   
wounded, but she can`t do anything for them..." said Robin. She   
couldn`t hold back her tears anymore.  
  
"Unless anyone of you knows how to treat them... they`ll die." said   
Setsuna without letting go of that impassibility mask she always   
wore, although on the inside she was being torn apart at the thought   
of losing her dear friends. Please, somebody do something she wanted   
to scream out.  
  
Naru approached them, looking at them... through them, it seemed to   
Usagi. She touched them over several key points of their bodies to   
figure out what could be wrong, and finally came to her conclusion.  
  
"I wasn`t sure just by looking at their aura, but my first impression   
was confirmed..." she said dramatically.  
  
"You can see auras?" wondered Usagi, amazed at her friend`s abilities.  
  
"Yes. And from what I`ve seen... their dark splinter has been   
forcefully removed." said Naru who knew right there nobody knew what   
she was talking about. "You see, in every being there is an   
equilibrium between good and evil, with one of the two usually   
overpowering the other. But regardless of whichever wins, the other   
is never totally erradicated. Even in the purest of soul there is   
always a small speck of darkness, a smidgen of corruption, a hint of   
evil. In those good and pure souls, the evil is focused towards   
greater goals and often drives these beings to achieve more glorious   
feats than anyone could think possible."  
  
"Like righteous wrath, so to speak?" suggested Umino.  
  
"Precisely, that`s one aspect of it. In all heroes, this speck of   
darkness is focused in a form more powerful than that of average   
people: the dark splinter. Without it, the soul is incomplete, and   
very much in pain." she said. "Usagi, I need your help to heal   
them."  
  
"How?"  
  
"You did bring your crescent moon wand, right?" asked Naru.  
  
"Of course, in my backpack." replied Usagi.  
  
"We`ll need to transform to do this." said Naru, transforming into   
the same dress and breastlate she was wearing when she was revealed   
as the messiah. Umino was amazed to see his girlfriend in this form.   
She had told him many times of the battle against Aebonite so he had   
a pretty good idea what she must have looked like, but seeing her   
with his own eyes was breathtaking.  
  
Usagi followed her lead, turning into Sailor Moon after retrieving   
her wand from her bag. "LUNAR SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
"Stand ready to receive my healing powers, Sailor Moon, you will need   
to focus them so they can work on their very soul, not just their   
bodies." said the messiah, her golden aura filling the entire room   
with a heavenly radiance that inspired awe to all present. She placed   
her hands on Sailor Moon`s shoulders and allowed her divine energy to   
flow through her friend.  
  
The senshi of the moon felt a wonderful warmth enter in her body   
through her shoulders and then spread in her chest, arms and legs.   
She was more at peace with the universe, sure of herself and her   
role in the grand scheme of things... is that how Naru felt, she   
asked herself.  
  
"You can start, now." whispered Naru in her ear. Sailor Moon   
silently nodded, this magical and peaceful sensation inside her   
trapping the words in her throat and leaving her speechless.  
  
A spark of gold formed on the crescent moon wand, glowing stronger   
with each passing moment until it shone as powerfully as the love   
of the two young healers of souls. Without hesitation, Sailor Moon   
pointed the wand to the senshi of Uranus and Neptune, flooding their   
bodies with a beam of soothing light. Slowly beginning to stir and   
groan, they regained their consciousness and smiled faintly, sharing   
the inner peace of their two allies.  
  
"Their souls are away from danger, though they still miss a part of   
themselves." said the young messiah, a concerned on her face as the   
golden light died down and she returned to her normal self.  
  
"Is that important?" asked Umino who finally snapped out of his   
awe-inspired rapture.  
  
"Very much so. You see, in every human being is the seed of a star,   
every star in the heavens is linked to someone somewhere, if not on   
this planet then on another. The sailor senshi have a special   
starseed, an eternal one whose power is such that it allows them to   
use greater power than any other of their race." she explained.  
  
"Like me and the other girls." said Haruka.  
  
"Exactly... but without a dark splinter to focus the power of their   
eternal starseed... their power cannot surface. This is why your   
sacred weapons were shattered." said Naru.  
  
Sailor Moon looked at one of the pieces of Monsoon which Robin had   
gathered that morning in the park and brought back in their bedroom.   
It seemed lifeless somehow, dull and without any of the marvelous   
luster she remembered to see in the lapis-lazuli trident. The   
fragments of Heaven`s Wrath were equally bland in appearance. She   
took a blue shard of the trident in her hands, moving it in her   
hands to try and catch a ray of light reflecting on its surface,   
without any success.  
  
"Better bring back a piece to Ami for analysis." suggested Michiru.   
"Hold on to a piece, Usagi."  
  
"If you don`t mind, Michiru..." she agreed.  
  
"Can you tell us what happened?" asked Mamoru.  
  
"The only thing I remember is fighting this huge creature that came   
out of nowhere..." said the blonde tomboy, wracking her mind to hold   
on to the few sketchy details she could recollect.  
  
"After we killed it... it turned into a young child..." added her   
feminine fiancee, shedding a tear as she remembered.  
  
"She said she wanted Black Baron to be proud of her." contiued   
Haruka.  
  
"That`s all I can recall I`m afraid." concluded Michiru.  
  
"Anything you can tell us will be of great help." said Naru.  
  
"We`ll let you two rest, now." said Setsuna, motionning everyone to   
leave the bedroom of the two wounded senshi.  
  
"Thanks, said Michiru before falling asleep in Haruka`s arms who did   
just the same after kissing her forehead.  
  
* * *  
  
Fenris devoured through his very large plate of varied barbecued   
meats, regaining strenght to fill his enormous daily energetic   
requirements. In a stark contrast, Crystallite sat on the other side   
of their dining room table and pecked lightly at an anemic looking   
portion of a few choice vegetables she enjoyed most.  
  
"Pensive, darling?" asked Crystallite to the lupine beast.  
  
He swallowed his large bite of food and hesitated a moment to reply.   
Knowing she would never be angry at him for speaking his mind as   
he`d done so often in the past, he went ahead and expressed his   
thoughts.  
  
"This Black Baron... I don`t trust him." said the manwolf.  
  
"Me neither, silly! Do you really think mother ever trusted anyone?   
In my position, you must learn to rule others not from honor or   
loyalty but by blackmail and fear. Someone as dark and twisted as   
Black Baron is bound to not be trustworthy. I`ll bet he`s following   
his own agenda even as we speak." she said.  
  
"But... how can we be sure he won`t kill us both???"  
  
"We can never be sure he won`t try... but we can be sure he won`t   
suceed. My instincts are telling me that his objectives will only be   
completed if ours are met, thus he won`t try to do anything dangerous   
to us until then." explained the frail girl, charming her hulking   
guardian with her shining black eyes that complemented perfectly her   
long red hair.  
  
Fenris said no more, but disliked the shifting being with all his   
being. There was a faint smell of evil hanging about him, a stench   
so minute only his acute sense of smell could pick it up. Although   
he never met Black Baron before, there was something familiar about   
this odour of his. Had he met this monster, he would have remembered   
it his whole life for sure... of all the vile monsters he had ever   
encountered, killed or worked for, none had such a foul presence   
capable of rotting its surroundings.  
  
"I don`t care what monstrosities my love Crystallite deals with." he   
thought. "I`ll be by her side no matter what."  
  
At this very moment the barely discernable stench of evil that   
hovered around Black Baron at all times assaulted the very sensitive   
nostrils of Fenris, telling him of the shadowy gransmaster of   
darkness` arrival.  
  
"He`s here." said the manwolf.  
  
"Good. I take it your mission was successful?" asked the young   
crippled woman, moving up slowly not to overexert her weak body.  
  
The shifting semisolid form moved up what could be assumed was an arm   
and two small black shapes formed in the air: two jagged pieces of   
black crystal, the dark splinters of Haruka and Michiru, taken away   
by the evil powers of Crystallite`s agent.  
  
"Ooooh they`re simply beautiful!" said Crystallite, reaching out and   
grabbing them. She could feel the raw power throbbing in her palms,   
coursing through her body and vibrating with her sympathic resonance.   
She knew that she was meant to wield such power from the day she was   
born, and Black Baron would make it all possible.  
  
"Almost as gorgeous as you are, my lady." said Fenris.  
  
Crystallite smiled at the compliment, and putting the two shards   
together she fused them as a single piece of black mineral. "Two   
pieces are mine, but I need many more. Who shall be next?" she asked   
Black Baron, pulling the cards of Gallagher from her robe pocket and   
spreading them in a fan so that the shadow creature could pick his   
target.  
  
Pointing to one, he made it float out of Crystallite`s hand and fly   
to his own. In an instant of sudden darkness dissipated as quickly   
as it came, Black Baron was gone.  
  
* * *  
  
"Give it up, Mercury, there`s nothing here to be found." conceded   
Sailor Mars after almost an hour of combing the area where Neptune   
and Uranus fought the blighted one.  
  
Sweeping the area over and over again with her ocean blue portable   
supercomputer, the senshi of mercury would not admit defeat. It had   
been barely twenty four hours since the messiah had guided her to   
pool upon the nearly unlimited power ressources of her soul, and all   
this added strength was leading her nowhere.  
  
"There has to be some minuscule detail we overlooked!" she argued   
without taking her eyes off the bleeping color screen. "You can   
leave if you want like the others already did."  
  
"I feel nothing in the area, be it good or evil. We can`t do   
anything anymore." said Mars. "Laurella and scarlet lady couldn`t   
help us out in this case, I agree, but not even your laptop or my   
psychic senses can detect a single thing, it`s time to give up and   
figure out another strategy."  
  
"You go back with the others, Rei, but I`m staying here."  
  
Rei sighed, knowing that when Ami decided to show her resolve this   
way there was nothing to do that could change her mind.  
  
"By the way, Ami..." she said hesitantly.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I don`t think you should let it get to you that Jedite was your   
biological father... after all, he`s not the man who raised you, is   
he? He`s not the man you call 'dad'... he`s not the one who read you   
stories at bedtime, taught you to read, healed your bruises or made   
the monsters under the bed go away." said Rei, lowering her voice to   
a near whisper.  
  
Ami didn`t respond, knowing well that Rei was right. In her heart,   
the famous artist Mizuno Masato would always be the one she would   
love as her father. Her one, true and only father.  
  
"Thanks, Rei, this means a lot to me." she then replied just as   
softly.  
  
"You know I`ll always be there for you." said Rei. She knew how Ami   
felt about her biological father, a man who`d never been there and   
had never cared about her, mostly because her own father had been so   
taken by his political career that he barely had time to notice that   
his daughter Rei was growing up.  
  
With an exchange of glances, both of them knew that they now shared   
a common bond, one that would bring them closer together, a new link   
of sistership that could not be broken. They shared a silent hug,   
then Rei left.  
  
* * *  
  
Wearing his dark sunglasses and a hat in an attempt to be as discreet   
as possible, Seiya left the admission office of the university he`d   
chosen to attend classes in. He knew that the media would soon find   
out where he studied, but he was planning to keep them out of his   
academic life as long as he possibly could. That was surely going to   
be a very short amount of time, but the life of an idol singer had   
its inconveniences...  
  
As he walked back to the parking lot, he met with a young woman he   
was hoping to see again: Tsukino Usako was coming his way, apparently   
on her way to the admission office herself.  
  
"Okay, Seiya... this time, don`t screw this up!" he thought. The   
young man had been obsessed by the scarlet lady ever since he met   
her by chance in a restaurant of the jyuban district. Being convinced   
she was his princess, he had to reach through her "normal human"   
facade, but without revealing his secret directly... there was still   
an outside chance she wasn`t the woman he was looking for, as Taiki   
was glad to point out whenever the subject came up.  
  
Mustering all his courage, he composed himself into the cool guy act   
he liked to use so much and walked up to her directly. He opened his   
mouth to speak, but froze in place as his senses were mesmerized by   
the delicious cinnamon odour of her sweet perfume.  
  
"Oh, hello Seiya." said Usako, giving him a warm smile. She thought   
that maybe she had met him on a bad day before, that he was really a   
nice guy after all...  
  
"Err... hiya, odango!" blurted out Seiya desperate for words, his   
brain overpowered by the cinnamon smell which his memory associated   
with his princess in a powerful manner.  
  
"I told you before not to call me that, my name is USAKO, you big   
jerk!!!" she snapped, very much insulted.  
  
"Don`t get your ponytails in a tangle, I remember your name   
perfectly, you never forget hair like THAT!" he replied, taking a   
defensive position.  
  
"I can`t believe I actually thought you could be a nice guy... I know   
better now!" concluded Usako, walking away in a furious pace.  
  
"I can`t believe I blew this again..." thought Seiya as he walked to   
his car.  
  
* * *  
  
Walking among the twisted wreckage of hundreds of cars, Black Baron   
searched for the next one of his servants whose services he now   
required. The grinding noise of junk compactors crushing old clunkers   
into small steel cubes echoed in the dirty lot while a few workers   
here and there went about their business, unaware of the presence of   
the grandmaster of the arts of darkness.  
  
It took a few moments in the falling darkness for Black Baron to find   
the conceiled form of his blighted one, to the foul being`s great   
pleasure.  
  
"You learned your lessons well." whispered a dreadful voice coming   
from Black Baron though not exactly from the place where he stood.  
  
"I had a great teacher." said the weak looking blighter one, his   
thin wiry frame barely hidden by his long black arabian looking   
clothes. Like all blighted ones, his suit made him look very much   
like a desert nomad. "And what may be my lord and master`s pleasure?"   
he asked.  
  
One of Black Baron`s hands moved up- or did it just slightly shift   
its form?- and presented the weakling warrior with one of   
Gallagher`s cards. The long thin hand of the blighted one swiftly   
grabbed it and turned it around and around in a nervous fidget. Any   
being less corrupt than Black Baron would have been sickened by the   
sight of the ungloved hand, the pale skin with a greenist tint oozing   
a pugnant, thick yellow liquid from several cuts that were badly   
covered by a sloppy bandage.  
  
"Is she the one you want, master?" he asked. Black Baron`s silence   
was answer enough for him. "And... how am I to bring her here?" he   
wondered.  
  
"Any way you see fit." said the ominous voice of the shadowy   
creature.  
  
"Understood." said the feeble warrior, grinning like a maniac under   
his black facial veil.  
  
A menacing growling sound resounded all around the two beings, a   
dozen pairs of burning red spots piercing the darkness like so many   
flaming coals. The dark forms of twelve hulking hounds of hell made   
themselves seen, though just barely. Their large musclebound bodies   
were barely recognizable by earth animal criteria, being wolf,   
panther, bull and lion all at once in an unholy blend.  
  
"Feeding time, boys..." said the weakling blighted one.  
  
In an instant, the twelve beasts sprang into action, hunting down   
and ripping apart all of the unlucky men who happened to be working   
on the evening shift of the large scrapyard. The blighted one   
laughed out loud at the gory massacre, encouraging his loyal fiends   
to increase their lust for blood in an orgiasctic butchery.  
  
Black Baron just walked out silently, not even bothering to look at   
the hellhounds tearing up the junkyard forman a few feet away from   
the management office he was headed past.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	38. Preprogrammed Responses

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
The three athletic silhouettes of young women warriors swiftly made   
their way around the heavily guarded police lines around the junkyard   
which the weakest blighted one of Black Baron used as a hideout for   
a long time. Now, the place was almost deserted after the dark minion   
of the evil shadow being commanded his hellish houndlike beasts to   
murder every human being who happened to be working there.  
  
The police had done their work for their inquiry now, and only the   
stench of death remained to witness the vile monsters` cruelty.  
  
"Was it him?" asked Sailor Star Maker.  
  
"Not directly, but he was here. Whoever or whatever did this has his   
stench all over." replied the strongly empathic Sailor Star Healer.  
  
"Can you lead us to either of them?" wondered Sailor Star Fighter as   
she repressed a shudder over the sheer brutality of the assault.   
Whoever did this would pay in blood.  
  
"I`ll try, but it`s not easy, you know. It`s not likely we`ll find   
either of them unless they strike again- or until the princess   
shows us where they are." said Healer.  
  
"We`ll do our best in the meantime." said Maker.  
  
They lept away in long superhuman bounds, following the faint track   
of Black Baron and his sinister minion.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 38  
  
PREPROGRAMMED RESPONSES  
  
  
Minako stared out of the window, wondering how she would try and   
explain her latest revelations to Robin. She`d been going over the   
events that had happened over the past six months, and found a   
pattern that was blatantly obvious to the path she was following.  
  
She had come to accept herself for who she really was and had   
overcome obstacles that would have broken a lesser woman to a empty,   
hollow shell. It had been hell at times, but in the end she had   
prevailed. The only problem was... how would she explain all this to   
Robin? She had a big part to play in the matter, wether she realized   
it or not, and her feelings on the subject were rather strong to say   
the least.  
  
A car horn blared out from the street, insistant and annoying.   
"That`s Robin all right, I better go and face her." thought Minako.   
"I`m going out with a friend, mom!" called the blonde girl as she   
picked up her purse and ran down the stairs from her room to the   
front door.  
  
"Who are you going with?" wondered her mother.  
  
"Robin, you met her at the christmas party." said Minako in her   
usual chippy tone.  
  
"Oh, and is she... interested?" wondered miss Aino.  
  
"Oh come on, mom! She`s just a friend!" protested Minako. Ever since   
her mother had accepted her homosexuality, she had effectively   
stopped her relentless questionning about her daughter`s male   
friends... only to redouble her third degree about Minako`s female   
friends, especially since her breakup with Ami.  
  
"That`s what you said about Ami, as I remember, until Makoto dropped   
by and caught you making out with her!" she replied with a large   
grin.  
  
Minako blushed. "She`s got the biggest crush on Yaten, mom, I don`t   
think she`d be interested in me or any other girl." said Minako.  
  
"Well the Three Lights do have a way to make young girls swoon...   
have a good evening, dear."  
  
"Thanks, you too mom."  
  
* * *  
  
The stars shone brightly in the sky as a lonely dark figure appeared   
out of thin air in a small glade in some seldom visited part of the   
forests near mount Fuji. The deadly feminine knightmare Thanatora   
formed her solid shape, revealing herself as the cold huntress whose   
very appearance had spawned the myth of the grim reaper, her light   
body armor cleverly hidden under a long black hooded cloak and a   
large scythe in her hand. She also carried with her a little   
something extra, a long stick with a large round shape on top   
conceiled by a black veil.  
  
"Looks like I`m first... again." said Thanatora, looking around and   
seeing none of her kind.  
  
She planted the stick firmly in the ground and sat atop a large   
boulder until her kinsmen arrived.  
  
"The stars are right... shouldn`t be too long now." she thought.  
  
Another cloud arrived in the glad, this one burning hot like steam   
and smelling of sulfur.  
  
"Greetings, Behemoth." said Thanatora, hopping off the large rock   
and regaining her composure.  
  
The hot cloud condensed itself into an eight feet tall warrior in the   
heaviest suit of crimson armor that has ever been forged in this   
world or any other. His hands were as large as the chest of a normal   
human being, and his large feet could easily crush the strongest of   
the so-called champions of earth. In his left gauntlet he held the   
largest battle axe that had been created in the forges of the third   
sphere, which Behemoth still dwarfed with his immense size.  
  
"Greetings sister knightmare. It`s a good night for the challenging,   
isn`t it?" growled the huge warrior in a voice even deeper than   
Ronmar`s.  
  
"Quite, but it`s a shame that the nexus is in such an unfavorable   
point in its cycle... it seems we might be the only contenders for   
the title this time." sighed Thanatora, remembering the day when   
Ronmar had gained the title of first knightmare of the spheres.   
Dozens of the greater knightmares had taken part of to the   
challenging, the traditionnal knightmare ceremony for the passing   
of power among the dread knights. Hundreds more of the lesser ones   
had attended, making Ronmar`s ascension to power a memorable event   
indeed.  
  
"No matter. We`ll make it something more intimate then." said   
Behemoth, walking in impatient circles as he waited and shaking the   
ground with every step.  
  
"I have arrived." resounded a voice in a menacing tone, a strong   
spicy smell filling the air.  
  
"New smell, dread lord?" wondered Thanatora.  
  
"New body, it affects you in many ways." replied Ronmar as he formed   
his body, wearing proudly his golden full plate armor and bearing a   
very large halberd of the same golden glint.  
  
"Shall we start?" asked Behemoth.  
  
"Ever the impatient one, heh my bulky friend? Yes, let us begin."   
said Ronmar. "Thanatora, will you do the honors?"  
  
"With pleasure." she said, then began to sing a magnificient lyric   
poem relating her existence, battles and triumphs. Both male   
knightmares stood enthralled by her perfect voice...  
  
* * *  
  
"Rei`s picked up something from her fire reading." said Robin to   
Minako as she drove to Makoto`s place to pick her up. "The others   
will meet us at the junkyard on the outskirts of town."  
  
"Who else is coming?"  
  
"Rei will be waiting for us at Makoto`s. Mamoru will give a lift to   
Usagi and Usako. Laurella is trying to get in touch with Shingo right   
now, but he`s out with friends so we may not be able to locate him   
in time." said Robin.  
  
Minako thought over her latest musings, and at the conclusion she had   
come to. She had to tell Robin, to let her know how she felt.  
  
"Robin... you... miss your father, don`t you?" she asked. Even though   
she wasn`t empathic as Laurella, she still felt her friend`s heart   
squeezing in her chest.  
  
"Yeah... I miss him a lot. He gave me life, made me everything I am.   
He once told me that his original intentions were not to attach   
himself to me, not to feel anything so he wouldn`t have to feel any   
pain if he lost me as he lost his student Hotaru."  
  
"But... he couldn`t help but love you, could he?" said Minako,   
completing her friend`s thought.  
  
"Exactly. He risked everything to save my life, and lost his own in   
the process. All because of Gallagher, of this bastard who ruined any   
chance of my father finding a peaceful solution to our problems!"   
added Robin, spewing her bottled up anger in a venomous rage.  
  
"I don`t think he meant to hurt anyone, Robin. I understand now why   
he did the things he did."  
  
Robin found a parking space alongside the street and stopped the car.   
She turned to Minako, her eyes burning with both confusion and anger.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about? You of all people should have   
reason to despise him, he almost KILLED you!" shouted Robin.  
  
"Perhaps. But the words he said as he was beating me senseless still   
ring in my hears... he said that my mind was weak, but burned with   
the passion of war and needed only the hammer of truth to forge it   
into a mighty weapon of justice." said Minako, remembering her brutal   
encounter with the second soul half of the deceased Technuma Saturn.   
She could feel her face hurt from the many savage blows he had given   
her.  
  
"What are you saying, exactly?"  
  
"That without Gallagher, my mind would have been too weak to focus   
and unleash my soul power. Let`s face it... without him, I wouldn`t   
have ascended yet and we would have failed to summon the messiah at   
D-point. Aebonite would have killed us all!" explained Minako in a   
totally uncharacteristic display of logic.  
  
Robin`s hands twitched and crushed the steering wheel as she squeezed   
it in boiling anger.  
  
"Don`t insult the memory of my father by saying Gallagher had good   
intentions... my dad died because of him!!!" she screamed.  
  
"Have you ever thought that his soul was just as incomplete as   
Technuma`s... and because of that he suffered just the same?!?"   
pleaded Minako, taking Robin`s hand in hers. "I found the strength  
to forgive Gallagher, maybe you should too and move on..."  
  
Robin started to cry. Thinking clearly over her entire life span   
which covered a very short five months, she let go of all the pain   
she had accumulated over that time.  
  
"This... will take some time..." she said between her tears.  
  
"I`ll be there for you, Robin. We all will." said Minako. She looked   
at her friend and began feeling a little uncomfortable... she   
actually felt herself attracted to her. Technuma had intended to   
create the perfect woman to be his daughter, and she was inclined to   
believe he had indeed attained his goal.  
  
Finally, Minako cracked. She reached over and placed a soft kiss on   
Robin`s lips. Robin was a little shocked from the sudden move, but   
she didn`t pull away. This felt good somehow, very comforting...  
  
"I`m sorry, Robin, I shouldn`t have done that." appologized Minako   
as she broke the kiss and turned away.  
  
"Don`t be sorry, Minako... I`ve always wondered how it felt when   
Michiru kissed Haruka." said Robin, a smile returning to her lips.   
"Now I know how wonderful it feels."  
  
Turning the key to restart the engine, Robin left the parking space   
and returned on her original course. On the sidewalk near the spot   
where the young senshi`s car was momentarily parked stood a girl who   
was the exact double of Aino Minako save for her dark black hair and   
eyes. She had witnessed the entire conversation, even though she   
could not hear it, but most of all she had seen the KISS. It burned   
her inside that her template was finally getting her life together   
while she failed over and over to get any amount of happiness.  
  
If she couldn`t be happy herself... she`d destroy everything Minako   
had.  
  
* * *  
  
She walked a bit uncertainly with her shining metal crutches in her   
hands, but Makoto`s pride was preventing her from ever giving up on   
hoping to be able to walk freely again in the near future. Her soul   
power ascension had given her spine the boost she needed to begin   
healing, and each subsequent transformation she made had repaired her   
nervous system a few fibers at a time. She was well on her way to   
complete recovery now, and was spending a lot of her time at home  
as Sailor jupiter to speed up the process further.  
  
Aside her personal physician Mizuno Akane who, as Makoto had   
recently learned, knew of her being a senshi, the entire hospital   
staff had been baffled by her miraculous recovery.  
  
"Hi Makoto!" said Rei as she joined her friend who was walking out   
of her appartment building.  
  
"Hi, Rei. I got your message, what did you see in the fire that`s so   
urgent?" she wondered.  
  
"Something is on the move." she answered with a grim look on her   
face.  
  
"Black Baron?"  
  
"Most likely, or one of his minions anyway."  
  
"Michiru called those creatures by a weird name... what was it   
again?" asked Makoto.  
  
"While she was still bleeding spiritual energy, I heard her mumble   
about a 'blighted one', it seems that those dark beings would be the   
servants of Black Baron." replied Rei.  
  
"Whatever they are... they`ll pay for Haruka and Michiru." said   
Makoto through her clenched teeth, gritting them together in a rage   
she could barely keep in check.  
  
"Keep your cool for now, Makoto. You`ll get a chance to fight all   
too soon." said Rei.  
  
Robin`s car pulled up next to them a few moments later, taking them   
to what was sure to be a very bloody battle.  
  
* * *  
  
The lights were faint, few and far apart in the long dark tunnel,   
but the black clad weakling minion of Black Baron needed no light to   
move around, and neither did his precious pets, over a dozen   
hellspawned hounds. Their physical attributes looked like a patchwork   
of bull, wolf, lion and panther body parts randomly selected and   
assembled.  
  
The evil red eyes of the hellhounds glowed brightly in the dark,   
their murderous instincts driving them ever forward in serving the   
blighted one whose greenish skin was a dreadful mess of cuts and   
gashes seeping an acidlike yellow ooze. The improvised bandages on   
his face and hands, the only parts of his body not hidden by his   
long flowing clothes, did nothing to hide just how much miserable   
his physionomy really was.  
  
In his left hand, he help on tightly to one of Gallagher`s cards   
given to him by his sinister master Black Baron, the image of his   
next senshi target taunting his bloodshot yellow eyes with every   
stare he took at it. He would make sure that her soul would get torn   
apart just like the two previous targets that had already fallen.  
  
A sign alongside the tunnel wall indicated that the subway station   
was only a few hundred feet away now, so he would be reaching his   
objective soon. A rumbling noise came from the distance, turning   
into a loud thundering roll as it approached at great speed. The   
blighted one and his pets quickly stepped aside and hugged the wall   
closely as the subway cars screeched by at full speed, being come   
and gone in a flash of blue metal and white shining light. With the   
subway train past, they resumed their course as fast as the weak   
body of the blighted one allowed him to walk.  
  
This was going to be so easy.  
  
* * *  
  
The loud echoing voice of Behemoth filled the entire glade as his   
rich baritone song of battles, wars and conquests entranced both   
Ronmar and Thanatora. With the last verse of his lifetime   
accomplishments recited, his singing came to a halt and both   
knightmares regained their full awareness of their surroundings   
again.  
  
"That, my knightmare kin, is all." concluded Behemoth in his deep   
voice.  
  
"Impressive, Behemoth, as much as Thanatora. You are both superior   
contenders and I deem you worthy of succession." said Ronmar.  
  
"Then shall we proceed to the offerings?" asked Behemoth.  
  
"Yes, the gift of war trophies shall determine the winner. Would you   
like to go first, brother Behemoth?" replied Ronmar.  
  
"I wouldn`t dream of it... please, ladies first." said the huge   
warrior in a display of chivalry which Thanatora was sure hid some   
sneaky plan. But she didn`t care... she had THE gift that would win   
Ronmar over to her cause. Offering it first to the dread lord of   
darkness would only serve her to further humiliate her opponent.  
  
"Here, my lord, is my gift..." said Thanatora as she took her gift   
and planted it in the ground. "I researched for something VERY   
special tailored for your own taste!" she added as she pulled the   
veil covering the spherical shape on top of the stick, revealing   
nothing less than the severed head of Coran Demsy, the parasitic   
telepath Psyche, whom Ronmar found himself allied to in a group   
called the Triad.  
  
Ronmar hated that man with a passion, and a wide grin formed on his   
lips as he looked at his glassy eyes and terror stricken expression   
forever frozen in death.  
  
"I love it. Vortika once asked me what was my greatest wish, and   
this was my answer... Psyche`s head on a spear!!!" said the dread   
knight, making a little "hello there" wave to the dead man`s face.  
  
"Grrmph. An easy target, Thanatora, I`m disappointed in you. I know   
you could have done better than THAT." mocked Behemoth.  
  
"Then let`s see what you have for me, then." said Ronmar.  
  
"Yes... here it is." said Behemoth, opening a small bag attached to   
his belt and pulling a small red gem which he placed in Ronmar`s   
gauntlet. He removed one of his armored gloves and began inspecting   
the rather crude looking crimson stone.  
  
"What is so special about it? It looks free of imperfections, but it   
still needs to be carved and polished..." commented Ronmar.  
  
"Just wait a moment or two..." urged Behemoth.  
  
A few seconds later, Ronmar began feeling his fingers getting sticky   
for some reason. His eyes popped open when he realized that the   
stone was oozing out blood!!!  
  
"Is that... a blood ruby???" he asked, baffled.  
  
"Believe it. Does it not bleed when in contact with your flesh?"  
  
"WHERE did you get THAT?" asked Thanatora, stunned from shock.  
  
"Where else? From inside the heart of magmawaste lavafiend!!! Killing   
that sucker took over a week of non-stop fighting... but it was   
worth it." bragged proudly Behemoth.  
  
"My army was almost decimated by a mere lavafiend pup... a stone   
this large could only come from an ADULT one! I am VERY pleased,   
Behemoth!!!" said Ronmar, putting the stone in his covered hand so   
that it would not be in contact with his skin and stop bleeding.  
  
Thanatora`s head was spinning; she knew she was losing her   
challenging and that another chance to grab the knightmare reigns   
of power wouldn`t occur for hundreds of years.  
  
"I have made my choice." said Ronmar. "Behemoth, first knightmare   
of the third sphere will be my successor."  
  
He placed his hand on the arm of Behemoth and waves of power began   
swirling around the two of them. Tentacle-like strands of golden   
energy formed from Ronmar`s body, encircling the two male knightmares   
and entering Behemoth`s body. The golden glint of Ronmar`s armor   
slowly faded to a dull flat black while the crimson armor of Behemoth   
was being highlighted in the most eye pleasing combination of red and   
gold. When the energy faded away, ronmar`s armor was now a deep black   
color which seemed to be absorbing light around it, the same color it   
originally had before he won his challenging to receive the mantle of   
command from the greater lord Andreyis.  
  
Behemoth arose his now golden axe in the air in triumph.  
  
"And now as my final act as first knightmare... I declare the earth   
and the silver millenium my protectorate!" declared Ronmar with   
authority. "Let the conflicts of the knightmare kin never disturb my   
final place of retirement!!!"  
  
Both knightmares agreed to Ronmar`s final wish, and vaporized their   
forms to leave the glade, getting ready to return to their own planes.   
Ronmar dissolved his battle armor, leaving only his stylish black   
clothes. He had finally retired himself of the internal conflicts of   
dread knight society at long last... not only had he spared his   
adoptive home of his terrible past, but he could now devote himself   
to his newfound love, Mizuno Akane...  
  
* * *  
  
"HERE!!!" screamed Rei, pointing to a subway station entrance. Robin   
slammed on the breaks, sending everyone in the car reeling forward.  
  
"Thank god for safety belts..." thought Makoto who hit her head on   
the headrest of the passenger seat in front of her.  
  
"You`re sure???" asked Robin.  
  
"Positive. It`s here!!!" replied Rei.  
  
"I`ll call the others." said Minako, activating her communicator.  
  
The four young warriors stepped out of the car, standing ready to go   
into battle. They used a nearby dead end alley to transform, then ran   
into the station as Sailor Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. They   
received many cheers and lovestruck glances from the commutors as   
they ran by, and Jupiter could have sworn hearing someone asking her   
to marry him...  
  
"Our popularity is growing every day!" noticed Saturn.  
  
"Yeah, don`t you just LOVE it???" agreed Venus, a big smile on her   
lips.  
  
Running down the stairs, they arrived at the entrance wickets which   
they proceeded to hop over and keep on running. Saturn slapped a   
couple of thousand yen bills on the ticket office counter as she ran   
after the other three, appologizing about it quickly without   
stopping her frantic race.  
  
"What do you think this means?" wondered one of the ticket office   
clerks.  
  
"I don`t know, but better call the cops. These girls always show up   
where there`s trouble!" said the other, picking up the phone to call   
the police.  
  
They arrived on the subway boarding gate, at the first level of the   
three level station. Several lines met at this point, and it would   
make things harder for sure.  
  
"It`s here somewhere, I feel the evil in the air!" said Mars, a   
tingle going down her spine.  
  
"Everybody get out of here, quickly, your lives are in danger!"   
yelled Sailor Jupiter.  
  
There were about thirty people on the three different levels of the   
station, waiting for their subways to pick them up and switching   
lines to reach their destination, and many of them looked at the   
senshi in disbelief. What could be menacing them? Nobody reacted...   
and this would only make matters worse.  
  
"So what now? What are we supposed to do exactly?" wondered Venus.  
  
The terrible answer to this question did not make any doubt to any   
of the young women warriors as nine hellhounds of the blighted one   
roared, running out of the top level of the station and seperated   
into three groups. Six jumped down one level, after which three of   
those jumped down one level further.  
  
"Oh, that`s just great!" cursed Jupiter.  
  
"Venus, you`re the quickest one of us, run down to the third level   
down and stop those beasts! Saturn, you go down one level, Jupiter   
and myself will stay here to contain any more that might come out   
the same tunnel!" said Mars, taking control of the situation. The   
other three silently agreed among themselves that if Usagi hadn`t   
been fated to be their leader, Rei would have been the natural   
choice. As it stood, she had the unofficial title of second in   
command, Usagi often relying on her in moments of great need.  
  
In three quick bounds across the safety railings, Venus was all the   
way down among the fearful passengers who ran away from the ravenous   
beasts, her sacred weapon Dreadbane in hand to face them. Saturn   
summoned Soulstar while she ran the stairs down one level, charging   
the three hellhounds that she was intent to destroy.  
  
Jupiter and Mars called upon Mjolnir and Hellfire, steadying their   
grip on their sacred weapon to battle the evil menace. Just as Mars   
had predicted, four more of those creatures ran out of the top level   
tunnel, growling and seeking for a victim.  
  
"CHAAAAARGE!!!" screamed Sailor Mars, sounding the attack.  
  
* * *  
  
Standing outside the subway station, three athletic young women   
dressed in very revealing black leather outfits were poised to take   
their first direct move- and most likely tip their hand to their   
enemies in the process. They had tried to delay this moment for   
weeks now, but the instant of truth had arrived.  
  
"I know you`re the empath among us, Healer, but the feeling of   
dread is palpable here..." said Sailor Star Maker.  
  
"It`s getting stronger everywhere in this town. It just feels more   
impending around them." replied Healer, the shortest of the three as   
she ran her fingers down her long silver ponytail.  
  
"If only SHE was there... with us... she could help us so much."   
sighed Sailor Star Fighter.  
  
"For now we can only do one thing: fight the battle on our own   
terms." observed Healer.  
  
"Well said." replied Maker. Fighter nodded to mark his agreement.  
  
* * *  
  
"SOUL CRESCENT SMASHER!!!"  
  
"FIRE SOUL!!!"  
  
"SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!"  
  
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!!!"  
  
The special attacks of the sailor senshi detonated upon their   
intended targets, the vile beasts of the blighted one. Four of them   
exploded, burned, ripped apart and got shocked to death at once.  
  
Panic seized the commuters who ran in all directions, trying   
desperately to avoid the furious battle going on. Inevitably, a few   
of them ended up too close to the hellhounds, but fortunately the   
precision lightning blasts of Sailor Jupiter rescued them from the   
savage onslaught of the reinforcements pouring in from the first   
level subway tunnel. Along with the last of the demonlike monsters,   
a thin man in long dark clothes similar to that of desert nomads   
left the darkness of the tunnel to join his pets in combat.  
  
"Kill them, boys, kill them all!!!" he said, obvious joy in his   
voice.  
  
"Hey, dark boy, is that thing yours?!?" yelled Jupiter to the dark   
figure, grabbing the beast closest to her, swinging it around in   
circles and letting it go flying like the same way she used to for   
the hammer throw competition in high school. The beast whimpered as   
its flight arc led it straight into the way of an incoming subway   
train, tearing it to pieces as it got crushed to a bloody pulp.  
  
"Impressive, tall one." he whispered, his sickly voice barely holding   
out before he broke into a long fit of cough. "Let`s see you handle   
THIS!" he finally managed to say, raising his hand up and releasing   
a swirling mass of dark power that shook the floor with its powerful   
shockwaves of pure force.  
  
While the blighted one engaged the two senshi high above and Saturn   
used her ruby glaive to kill the third beast on the floor just one   
floor up, Venus was having trouble cleaning up her own part of the   
battle. For all her soul powered speed and precision attacks, she   
was still unsure with her double bladed broadsword and it showed.   
She had badly wounded one of the hellhounds and still the other one   
was barely scratched.  
  
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!!!" she called out, catching one of the beasts   
by the neck with her golden hearts energy chain. With a strong tug,   
it ripped it right out of her hand, leaving her at a clear   
disadvantage. She had trouble figuring out what happened next as she   
widly slashed left and right to try and keep away from herself the   
assault of claws and fangs. When she got her bearings back, her   
yellow, amber and gold uniform was all torn up, her flesh marked   
with many bleeding wounds. She was covered in blood, not all of it   
hers.  
  
She was horrified.  
  
Her breathing stopped, she didn`t even notice the floor shaking   
furiously under her feet from the battle going on above her head.   
She had fought lots of youma, cardians, droids and other such   
monsters in her lifetime of being Sailor Venus and Sailor V, but   
the beasts she fought never bled. They fell to dust, crumbled into   
rubble, burned to ash, turned to light... but this blood all over   
her, dripping on her hands, seeping from her torn skin... it was   
too much for her. She just started crying, her sweet and innocent   
spirit wounded badly.  
  
A dark presence behind her had been expecting this. Black Baron stood   
out of a shadowy corner, pointing his hand to the traumatized young   
girl, using his dark power to focus and pull out everything black   
and evil within Aino Minako`s soul. As she screamed in abominable   
pain, her dark splinter was forcefully extracted, the small piece of   
jagged crystal flying to the shifting being`s hand. Yelling out her   
soul tearing torture, Sailor Venus` senshi fuku vanished while her   
sword Dreadbane shattered into a hundred shards of fractured topaze.  
  
"Hey, stay away from her, you bastard!!!" screamed Saturn as she   
realized what was happening to her friend. Black Baron looked up and   
stared right at the young senshi who froze in place, suddenly knowing   
what true fear meant. "Lucky for me I had this guard rail to prevent   
me from falling down..." she thought as she realized that she was   
leaning in a dangerous manner over what could be a very long fall if   
she wasn`t careful.  
  
Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, goes Murphy`s Law.  
  
Pointing his hand to the balcony ramp, Black Baron used his dark   
powers to destroy the concrete floor and metal handrail Robin held on   
to, plunging her to a fifteen feet fall onto the lower level subway   
rails where she brutally landed in an uncontrolled manner. Having   
removed his target`s dark splinter, he contently vanished, leaving   
the shivering Minako lying on the subway boarding ramp a crying mess,   
a broken doll abandonned to its sad fate.  
  
"Bastard..." mumbled Saturn as she figured what had happened. She   
shook her head and noticed that her right hand was mere inches away   
from the third rail... and certain death! "Okay, don`t panic, girl,   
as long as you don`t move too fast, nothing can go wrong..." she   
told herself, feeling a bit more reassured.  
  
The ground began rumbling again under her sprawled body, but this   
time it wasn`t the sudden and momentary shocks of the blighted one   
attacking Mars and Jupiter two floors above her. This time it was   
smoother, softer, more insistent and longer lasting. It was also   
gradually increasing in strength, and a loud noise began to accompany   
it, coming from the tunnel in front of her. Looking in the distance,   
she saw two spots of light moving her way...  
  
"You just had to open your big mouth, didn`t you, Robin?" she blasted   
herself. No panic needed, it was still about ten seconds off. Nothing   
a senshi like herself couldn`t handle, all she had to do was get to   
her feet, leap up and...  
  
Sailor Saturn screamed as she tried to pull herself up, her left   
tibia having suffered a double fracture in her long fall down.   
Collapsing back down on the cold metal subway rails, she just came   
to understand she couldn`t move out of the way. With only seconds   
before she was crushed under the wheels of the incoming machine,   
Jupiter and Mars couldn`t help her as they were too busy fighting   
the blighted one and his pets to even notice her plight. Not even   
Minako could rescue her because of the crippling soul injury she had   
just suffered. The headlights of the subway train blinded her as it   
speeded her way on a trajectory of certain death. Bracing herself   
for the impact, she closed her eyes and shed a tear.  
  
"Wait for me, dad, I`ll be there soon..." was the last thing she   
had time to whisper.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	39. The Show Must Go On

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 39  
  
THE SHOW MUST GO ON  
  
  
Laying flat on her stomach against the cold rails of a busy subway   
line, Sailor Saturn`s last hopes of survival had been smashed along   
with her leg, broken in two places when she fell down onto the track.   
She had barely avoided touching the electrified third rail, but the   
subway train barreling down in her direction would kill her for sure.   
She stiffened her every muscle, bracing for the killing blow that   
would reunite her with her dead father.  
  
She just hoped it wouldn`t hurt for too long before all became   
dark...  
  
But the pain never came. Instead, she felt light as a feather,   
soaring through the air. Opening her eyes again, Robin saw the   
subway train rolling into the station at full speed... but she  
wasn`t lying in front of it anymore. Rather, she was in the arms   
of someone standing on the boarding area safely behind the orange   
dotted line.  
  
Looking at her savior, she found herself totally entranced by the   
most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen in her life. The leather   
clad woman also had superbly chiseled features and a magnificient   
mane of long silver hair.  
  
"Who... who are you?" she asked.  
  
"Call me Sailor Star Healer." she replied, putting Saturn down on a   
bench along the wall. Her leg still hurt terribly, but Healer`s touch   
was so soft that she did not cause any more pain to the young senshi   
than what could normally be expected from a freshly broken limb.  
  
"He`s done his dirty work all right." commented Sailor Star Maker,   
gently passing his fingers through the hair of the distraught Minako   
who sobbed painfully from the forceful extraction of her dark   
splinter by Black Baron.  
  
"I guess we`re too late again." conceded Sailor Star Fighter,   
sighing loudly.  
  
"I wouldn`t say that..." replied Healer, smiling sweetly to Sailor   
Saturn who blushed ever so slightly.  
  
Another detonation rocked the first level of the subway station,   
indicating that the action wasn`t quite over yet.  
  
"Shall we go and assist them?" wondered Maker.  
  
"They can finish this off on their on. Without the beasts or Black   
Baron, the blighted ones are no threat." said Fighter. In a few   
quick bounds, the three leather clad Sailor Starlights leaped up to   
the second level and exited through the subway tunnel from which they   
had arrived.  
  
"WAAAAAIT!" yelled Saturn, cursing her wounded leg that wouldn`t let   
her follow them.  
  
Two levels higher, the blighted one was rapidly running out of juice,   
his dark energy almost entirely depleted. Feeling the battle was   
over, he made a quick move with the very last of his strength to   
cover his own escape: instead of using wide unfocused blasts, he   
concentrated it all into a single beam. Although he knew his powers   
would not be strong enough in this form to cause any amount of real   
bodily harm, he was nonetheless capable of propelling Sailor Jupiter   
back several feet over the safety railing to a thirty feet fall.  
  
"GYAAAA!" yelled Jupiter, grabbing onto the rail with her hand,   
dropping down Mjolnir which clanked loudly on impact. "HEEEEELP!"  
  
"Hold on, I`m coming!" said Mars, running to bring assistance to her   
friend. The evil creature took the opportunity to run up the stairs   
and make his escape. He ran as fast as he could, his weakened body   
dragging like a sickling turtle.  
  
Having received Mars` help to get back over the safety railing,   
Jupiter urged her friend to stop the vile being. "Don`t let him   
escape, I`ll be fine!" she said, massaging her chest where the dark   
beam had struck her.  
  
Sailor Mars ran and reached the bottom of the very long flight of   
stairs where she saw the blighted one running to the surface. She   
needed to kill him quick, but this would require a high precision   
attack, one that could pinpoint the weakest part of her enemy`s body   
fifty feet away.  
  
Remembering a lost memory of the moon kingdom like a dream   
resurfacing long after it has been forgotten, she rose her hands in   
the air, in the position of an archer ready to shoot. A long bow of   
fire formed in her hands, a flaming arrow taking shape. She aimed   
carefully, then let go of the fiery thread pulled back to its   
breaking point...  
  
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!!"  
  
In a blast of intense heat, the flame arrow soared in a straight   
line.  
  
Hearing the senshi of mars calling out her attack, the blighted one   
stopped his run and turned around to see what was going to happen-   
only to receive the projectile of doom directly in his throat,   
piercing it side to side and dissipating after exiting through the   
back of his neck. He gurgled inhumanly, holding his ripped throat   
with both hands, vomitous yellow liquid oozing out of his mortal   
wound.  
  
He fell over forward, tumbling down the stairs, his body decomposing   
at an accelerated rate. By the time he landed at Mars` feet down the   
stairs, he was nothing more than a putrid puddle of yellowish acid   
bathing his corroded black clothes.  
  
Placing her finger to her lips, the triumphant Sailor Mars blew off   
the little cloud of smoke hovering around it like the sherif always   
does in a cheesy comboy movie.  
  
"Nobody hurts my friends." she said with anger flaring in her eyes.  
  
* * *  
  
The beast had run into the tunnel when it saw that these tall   
warriors were shooting fire and lightning. It was scared like hell,   
and when it heard its brothers screaming far away behind him it knew   
it`d been right to flee. Making its way through the long tunnel, it   
exited to the surface by an open escape hatch for maintenance   
workers.  
  
It looked around the deserted streets- no one in sight. The   
hellhound was still hungry, and roamed around to find its next meal.   
In one alley, it got excited as it saw a lonely man who was carrying   
around a black cat on his shoulder. Good. The big guy with the long   
black hair for the main course and kitty for dessert. That long black   
overcoat shouldn`t be too hard to chew through... and seeing how he   
turned his back to the beast, it would be even easier to kill them   
both.  
  
Running with great speed, the beast was hoping to catch the serene   
looking man off guard by digging its claws and fangs in his back...   
but as it jumped, the man reacted like lightning, extending his leg   
backwards like a tense coil released suddenly; his foot hit the   
hellhound squarely in the chest, sending it flying into a nearby   
wall. Before it could get back up, the man had moved like lightning   
again, grabbing it by the hind leg and swinging it into the wall   
where its head exploded into bloody mush. The whole battle took less   
than three seconds and the powerful blows had been delivered   
smoothly, seemingly without any effort.  
  
The cat on his shoulder moved a little, taking a better position as   
the sudden moves of the deadly fighter disturbed him.  
  
"Didn`t bother you too much there, did I, Osiris?" he asked.  
  
"No, don`t worry. I`m used to being hauled around like excess   
baggage." gruffly replied the old cat. A ray of light reflected upon   
him as he moved, revealing his whitening black coat and the shining   
silver ankh on his forehead.  
  
"As entertaining as this little demonkin was to kill, we have to go.   
We have a lot of work to do and very little time to do it." said the   
man, passing his hair through his long black mane.  
  
He left with the cat on his shoulder as always, absent-mindedly   
biting on his tongue.  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto carefully placed Robin down on the couch at Usagi`s place,   
making sure she didn`t hurt her fractured leg in the process.  
  
"Shouldn`t we go to a hospital?" wondered Robin, moving around   
uncomfortably to find a position that would lessen the pain she felt.  
  
"This will only take a minute, Robin, once Naru is done helping Usagi   
heal Minako`s soul bleeding she`ll be right over to take care of   
your leg." replied Makoto.  
  
"She can mend broken bones?"  
  
"Apparently."  
  
"Cool!" said Robin, her smile returning.  
  
"There`s something I wanted to ask you." said Makoto.  
  
"Ask away."  
  
"You told me you broke your leg falling on the subway track, but   
failed to mention HOW you got out of there before getting crushed to   
a bloody pulp." asked Makoto.  
  
"That was the weirdest thing... three senshi we`ve never seen before   
arrived and pulled me off the tracks about half a second before I   
was hit. They were wearing suits that look like those you can buy   
in leather fetish stores." explained Robin, remembering the   
Starlights.  
  
"How would you know WHAT they sell in those places?" inquired Makoto,   
but Robin quickly changed subject.  
  
"Anyway, they said their names were Star Fighter, Star Maker and   
Star Healer. Healer`s the one I owe my life to." said Robin,   
blushing as she remembered those strong, deep green eyes. Why was   
she feeling all warm inside like that all of a sudden?  
  
"Maybe they can be our allies after all..." thought out loud Makoto.  
  
"Yeah... that would be wonderful." said Robin with a large grin that   
Makoto didn`t fail to notice.  
  
Upstairs in Usagi`s room, the traumatized Minako who still had large   
bloodstains on her skin and hair was trembling from the unimaginable   
anguish her soul wound was causing her. Around her, the concerned   
Usagi and Naru were preparing to heal her up under the watchful eyes   
of Mamoru, Rei, Usako, Ikuko and the cute little Chibi Chibi who felt   
so bad for her wounded friend.  
  
"Minako hurt..." she said, let out a soft sob.  
  
"Usagi and Naru will make it all better, honey." said Rei, crounching   
down to the little girl`s level and hugging warmly. Chibi Chibi   
smiled again. She could feel all this love coming from Rei, and it   
comforted her beyond words to describe. In the same way, the pure   
unrestrained love of the pink haired three year old was healing a   
wound inside of Rei`s heart that she had tried so hard to forget,   
but simply couldn`t.  
  
"Let`s get ready." said Usagi, taking her moon crescent wand from   
her purse and transforming into Soul Power Sailor Moon. Naru   
transformed as well, taking on her long white dress, arm length   
gloves and matching breast plate. Both of them radiated a golden   
aura, Naru`s holy messianic glow greatly outshining Sailor Moon`s.  
  
Without hesitation, the messiah placed her hands on Usagi`s   
shoulders, lending her the power she needed to mend the wound   
inflicted to Minako by the evil Black Baron. The swirling golden   
aura around Naru flowed into Sailor Moon`s arms and concentrated   
into her wand, buidling up to shower the trembling Minako with warm,   
soothing energy.  
  
"MOON PRINCESS SOUL HEALING!!!" said Sailor Moon as the soul bleeding   
of Minako stopped and the blonde girl recovered from her ordeal.  
  
"Thanks, I needed that..." said Minako, shedding a few more silent   
tears.  
  
"Minako better!!!" said Chibi Chibi in her chirpy voice.  
  
Rei smiled and whispered to the little girl that there were some   
cookies downstairs.  
  
"Yeah! Hungry!" replied the little girl, getting excited.  
  
Naru followed them down, getting ready to heal Robin as Rei and Chibi   
Chibi went to the kitchen for the promised cookies, leaving Minako to   
be comforted by her friends and giving her a chance to wash herself   
up.  
  
"So how`s my patient doing?" asked Naru, picking up the hemline of   
her long dress so she could sit down comfortably on the edge of the   
sofa where Robin was lying down.  
  
"I`ve been better." she said.  
  
"Let me help you." said Naru, placing her hands on Robin`s fracture   
and sending warm golden energy in her fractured limb. Robin grimaced   
as the bones felt like they suddenly had a mind of their own, though   
the pain didn`t last too long. Within a minute, her leg was totally   
mended as surely as if it had spent three months in a cast.  
  
"Wow, you`re amazing! How`d you do that?" she asked.  
  
"I only stimulated the lifeforce flow in your body, accelerating it   
and your natural healing process sped up as a result. Your leg is   
good as new... unfortunately, I can`t help you with your other   
problem."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"When I sized up yur condition by analyzing your aura, I noticed that   
your heart is... confused, seeking a direction it can`t decide itself   
on, and it`s tearing you apart inside." explained Naru.  
  
Robin lowered her head. "You`re right you know... I feel so confused   
right now. There is so many wonderful people I feel attracted to, but   
I don`t know who to choose, and I don`t want to hurt anyone either."   
she whispered.  
  
Makoto placed her hand on Robin`s shoulder to show her that she`d   
always support her. "Life is tough sometimes... you`ll figure it out   
somehow."  
  
Thinking over about the sweet Minako, the charming Yaten and the   
strong Star Healer, Robin was sincerely hoping that Makoto was right   
about that...  
  
* * *  
  
Minako stepped out of the bath and carefully dried herself with the   
large towels provided to her by Ikuko. She slipped on one of Usagi`s   
bathrobes and sat in front of the bathroom mirror, just staring at   
how her wet honey blonde hair fell on her face and shoulders.  
  
"Aino Minako..." she whispered, looking into the eyes of her   
reflection. "That`s all I am, now, nothing more." she added.  
  
Her sark splinter removed, Minako had indeed proven Naru`s point that   
she couldn`t transform anymore, having tried already before and after   
her bath. She was just another regular woman now, no more powers, no   
more fighting villains, nothing.  
  
Just her plain old self.  
  
A knock came at the door, followed by the sweet voice of Michiru.   
"Can I come in?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, I`m dressed..." replied Minako. Not that I would mind, she   
refrained herself from saying.  
  
The familiar smile of Michiru was entrancing as always, hinting a   
great power within herself, a sense of intuition beyond her means to   
understand. Minako always liked the aqua haired artist because there   
was always another side to her personality to discover, something   
more to be seen and learned.  
  
But most of all, she was a true friend no matter what happened.  
  
"What`s on your mind, Michiru?" asked Minako.  
  
"That`s what I came here to ask YOU, actually." she replied, sitting   
on the small bench in front of the softly lit mirror.  
  
"I`m just wondering what I`m going to do now, being Sailor Venus is   
all that I have going for me right now... my efforts to get a break   
in showbiz are fizzling, I`m lonely and my studies are difficult.   
I`m asking myself if I can really make it to the end!" explained   
Minako.  
  
Michiru sighed loudly. "The loss of your powers... it`s making   
everything else look gloomy, isn`t it?"  
  
Minako nodded in agreement. Michiru placed her arm around her   
shoulder and reached for the hairbrush in front of her, handing it   
to her friend. "There`s one thing I came to realize after I lost my   
own Neptune powers... I thought it was the end of my hero days, but   
as I laid in my sweet Haruka`s arms, holding Hotaru in mine, it   
became clear to me. Being a hero isn`t about flashy powers, fancy   
costumes or even fighting evil monsters. It`s about putting   
everything on the line time and time again to protect those things   
you believe in." she explained.  
  
"That`s so... beautiful!" said Minako, taking the brush and starting   
to comb her long flowing hair. Suddenly looking at herself for who   
she was and not who she wasn`t anymore, the young woman was finally   
able to see her inner beauty for what it truly was.  
  
"Because it`s true. All truth is inherently beautiful, my friend."   
said Michiru, smiling.  
  
"Thanks... I needed to speak with someone in private like this."  
  
"While we`re here, would you like me to braid your hair? A little   
change can do a lot of good for your morale." offered Michiru.   
  
Minako gladly accepted.  
  
* * *  
  
"You were really hard to find, you know that???" complained Laurella,   
slapping Shingo behind his head before he could put on the helmet   
she handed him.  
  
"Sorry, the guys wanted to go shoot some pool in a place they know...   
I just never went there before, so you couldn`t know where I was.   
The guys in our team really need communicators, you know!!!" he   
replied.   
  
"Okay, sit in front, you`re driving tonight." said Laurella,   
slipping down to the back of her motorcycle`s seat.  
  
"You`re letting ME drive YOUR bike?" said Shingo in amazement.  
  
"The battle is over now, but I`m trying to get a fix on this Black   
Baron guy. My empathic skill gives me an edge over Ami`s laptop in   
the mystical area, one that will complement Rei`s uncanny spirit   
sense. I feel this weird despair hanging over the city, and Rei   
can`t track it down in the way I can... so hop on and follow my   
directions." said Laurella.  
  
Shingo followed this friendly command, feeling honored of being   
allowed to drive Laurella`s prized possession, the motorbike had   
given her when she had finally gotten her life together again and   
healed her gravely wounded mind. Speeding along the dirty slush   
filled streets, Shingo wondered how long the cool, comfortable   
weather would last. It was almost as if the harsh cold provoked by   
Aebonite was being naturally counterbalanced by this unseasonable   
warmth.  
  
Holding on to her boyfriend by the waist and closing her eyes,   
Laurella opened herself to the emotions floating in the air. Dread.   
Despair. Hopelessness. It was stagnant, morbid, and getting stronger   
with each senshi deprived of her dark splinter by Black Baron.  
  
She gave Shingo directions to take, blindly following her empathic   
sense to tell her where to go.  
  
* * *  
  
Mitchell Dreadborne arrived at his appartment late that night, tired   
but overall satisfied of the conclusion to the challenging. Walking   
up the stairs of his building, he just couldn`t wait to pour himself   
a warm drink and take off those clothes which now seemed to weigh a   
ton on his sore muscles.  
  
Wearing battle armor was simply so exhausting nowadays. The former   
first knight of the spheres was no more than a mere dread knight,   
albeit one who still had considerable clout among his kin. His   
retirement on earth would be everything he could have hoped for.  
  
"Hello there, tall dark and gloomy." said a familiar voice. Mizuno   
Akane stood in front of his condo`s front door, patiently waiting   
for him. She looked very tired, but the smile on her face told him   
she didn`t mind it at all.  
  
"Greetings, dear Akane. It`s a real pleasure to see you as always...   
can I offer you a nice cup of coffee? I was about to brew some."   
offered Ronmar, happy to see the woman he had so much in common   
with, both of them having known a very dark past.  
  
"Please, I`d love that."  
  
He unlocked the door and showed her inside his spartanly decorated   
place, every piece of dark color furniture serving a well defined   
function. Akane giggled, thinking that once her daughter got her   
own appartment, she was likely to decorate it in the same utilitarian   
fashion.  
  
After a few minutes, the delicious smell of moka java filled the   
kitchen, Akane accepting the cup given to her by the powerful man   
who had become her new lover. "Thank you."  
  
"So how have things been in my absence?" wondered Mitchell, taking   
a long sip of the hot coffee he`d just poured himself, not putting   
in either sugar or cream unlike Akane.  
  
"Some new menace has surfaced. My Ami and her friends have been   
fighting it... it`s minions at least, because their enemy only shows   
up to maul the girls one by one. He cripples their souls somehow,   
from what my daughter tells me."  
  
"Sounds like an entity of darkness. Maybe I can help you fight it."   
suggested Ronmar.  
  
"I was hoping you could help them." said Akane, smiling to him.   
"Apparently, this creature is called... Black Baron."  
  
Upon the mention of the shifting being`s name, Ronmar`s heart skipped   
a beat. He felt his arms and legs weaken under him, the hot cup of   
coffee slipping through his fingers and smashing on the tiled floor.  
  
"Did... did you say..."  
  
"Black Baron, yes."   
  
Fear was clawing at his stomach, grabbing hold onto him like a   
darkbeast in a feeding fenzy. Ronmar had hoped never to even hear   
the name again, but now he was HERE, in the world where he`d chosen   
to spend the rest of his unnatural life.  
  
"What is it, Mitchell? Did I say something wrong?"  
  
"Akane... your daughter is in the gravest danger of her life, and so   
are her friends!" said Ronmar, fear showing on his face for the first   
time in centuries.  
  
Akane knew it would take something quite horrible to scare him. She   
simply had no idea just how terrifying Black Baron could be.  
  
* * *  
  
Coming home after the battle in the subway, the Kou brothers returned   
to their place, their male forms reassumed to disguise their true   
selves, the Sailor Starlights. Taiki went straight to the stereo   
system to put in a Mozart CD while Seiya collapsed face first into   
the living room sofa.  
  
"Yaten, check the answering machine!" said Seiya through the plush   
cushions.  
  
Of course, the red blinking light was there, so Yaten pushed the   
button REWIND then PLAY. He listened to the string of messages, most   
of them from their agent about upcoming live shows, appearances and   
concerts. Yaten barely even heard those, thinking over the last   
second rescue of Sailor Saturn he did that evening. He especially   
remembered her eyes, shining emerald eyes like his own, so full of   
life...  
  
The last one, however, got his attention.  
  
"Hello, Yaten, you don`t know me but you know my friend Robin... you   
met her the other day and she`s burning to see you again! Check your   
mailbox, I slipped in a picture of her, along with her phone   
number..." said the mystery girl`s recording.  
  
Curious, Yaten went to the front door and opened the mailbox where   
he did find a large enveloppe containing... a picture of the girl he   
was sure was his princess, Robin Redwing!!! Now he knew her name,   
and he even had her phone number, written behind the glossy shot of   
the stunning young girl next to her full name.  
  
Things were definitely looking up now, he could find her and try and   
communicate with her, reaching behind the facade and linking with   
his princess.  
  
Across the street, hidden in darkness, Minako`s dark double "V" was   
looking at Yaten opening the enveloppe through binoculars. She saw   
his bewildered expression and large smile; she knew that her plan   
would succeed. By throwing Robin in Yaten`s arms, Minako would be   
alone again, miserable with her pathetic lovelife.  
  
V smiled. She would wreak havok in her template`s life in so many   
ways, her own life would seem paradise compared to Minako`s.  
  
* * *  
  
"Here is the next one." said the distorted voice of Black Baron as   
he handed over Sailor Venus` dark splinter to Crystallite. The small   
jagged crystal floated to her greedy hand and she held it next to   
the two fused shards of Neptune and Uranus. Using her power, she   
added this newest piece to the other two, increasing the size of   
the crystal just a little more.  
  
"We`re getting a little closer to our goal, Fenris." said   
Crystallite, her face lit with the excitement of anticipation.  
  
"And what goal is that, I wonder..." thought Fenris who didn`t trust   
Black Baron at all.  
  
"I think we must further accelerate our work, but the increased   
darkness hugging this city will make it that much easier." observed   
Black Baron.  
  
"So who will be next?"  
  
The shimmering being of darkness did not hesitate a second, picking   
two cards from Crystallite`s hand. Black Baron observed the two   
senshi drawn on them, two more girls soon to be added to his score.   
He then vanished without any further comment.  
  
"He`s so powerful, why does he even bother to help us at all?" asked   
Fenris, baring his fangs to the spot where the grandmaster of   
darkness stood just seconds before.  
  
"He has his own agenda, that`s for sure. I can`t guess his true   
motivations right now, but as long as his goals match our own...   
he`ll serve us well."  
  
"Understood. If you believe this can help you, so be it. As much as   
I loathe him, I trust you absolutely." said the manwolf, sitting next   
to Crystallite and hugging her in his massive arms.  
  
"You`ll see, Fenris, this will bring us everything we could possibly   
want." said the weak young girl, staring at the black jagged crystal   
in her hands from which a throb of pulsing energy could be felt,   
increasing in power with each new piece obtained.  
  
"I never asked for anything else than to hold you in my arms..."   
whispered Fenris in her ear.  
  
"You`ll see, my big furry wolf, I`ll conquer this entire universe   
and put it at your feet!" she whispered back.  
  
She cuddled to him... she always felt safe in his arms.  
  
* * *  
  
Shingo came to a slow halt as he received instructions from his   
girlfriend to do so. He put on the brakes and the Velociraptor model   
four stopped, Laurella pointing towards a large group of tall   
buildings over the horizon.  
  
"There... Black Baron was there not long ago, I`m sure of it!" said   
Laurella.  
  
"That`s the Poldzer Triangle... completed in the last couple of weeks.   
some people say it`s cursed, because it was owned by professor Tomoe   
and was never completed after he was... well, you know the rest of   
the story better than I do." said Shingo. "That`s strange... it   
doesn`t look like the sort of place a master of magic would hide in,   
it`s so... technological."  
  
"The darkness coming from this place is frightning, Kit... it sends   
shivers down my spine!"  
  
"You`re right, it is palpable over here. And I don`t even have your   
empathy to feel it... it must be hell for you, Laurella." commented   
Shingo.  
  
"I can take it, I learned how to shield myself over time."  
  
"I don`t care how resilient you are, I don`t want to expose you to   
any more of this than you already have. We`re going back, sweetheart,   
we need to discuss this with the others before we do anything about   
this." said Shingo, tightly pulling his thick gloves back onto his   
hands after the long ride loosened them a little. He then turned the   
bike around and sped back to his home so they could meet with the   
other senshi.  
  
About ten minutes after the young couple was gone, the shadowy form   
of Black Baron appeared at the same spot, the grandmaster in the arts   
of darkness looking to the direction where Shingo and Laurella had   
taken, not even turning around to greet the sinister creature walking   
up to him. Still turning his back to the vile monster whose long black   
clothes covered every inch of his body, he gave his orders to be   
followed exactly.  
  
"Find this girl. Break her soul, I care not how." said the menacing   
voice of Black Baron as he handed over one of Gallagher`s cards to   
the blighted one standing behind him without as much as talking a   
peek at him. The foul monster extended his long wiery fingers and   
took the card, studying its every detail to burn them in his mind.  
  
"Yes, great master, it shall find the girl and break her... tear her   
apart!!!" said the blighted one as he pulled a long knife from   
underneath his ample clothes, his strange body motions closer to   
slithering than actual walking. "IT SHALL KILL THE LITTLE GIRLS FOR   
THE GLORY OF THE GREAT MASTER!!!" screamed the blighted one, his body   
bending in unnatural places.  
  
"Of course you will." said Black Baron who in the end never did care   
whether his blighted one lived or died, as long as he could get what   
he wanted from his victims.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	40. Looks Good on Paper

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue, three years ago...  
  
  
Walking amongst the misshapen denizens of the cloud city Thunderport   
III, a relatively well formed humanoid being went about its way,   
minding his own business and keeping his eyes on the filth ridden   
walkway of the main merchant hall. He paid little attention to the   
careless masses of travelers, hustlers, contraband dealers and gun   
runners because he had no business with any of those shady   
characters in any way.  
  
What he needed was an assassin.  
  
He entered the "Halflife" bar, the smoke filled dark atmosphere   
assaulting all his senses at once. Cigarette fumes, cheap alcohol   
vapors, sweat and low quality food smells would have made any lesser   
man throw up in an instant, but the black clad man did not feel any   
discomfort, nor did he feel any revulsion from the many blood stains   
on the floor and walls which nobody cared enough about to actually   
take the time to clean them off.  
  
Pulling down slightly the black shroud over his face so that his   
black eyes and pale skin showed through a little, he squinted and   
scanned the room in a few quick glances. He found the man he was   
looking for, a huge manbeast whose jet black fur and glowing red   
eyes scared everybody around him as much as his long claws and   
sharp fangs. His leather clothes matched his fur color and told   
many stories of his past battles from the tears that had been   
awkwardly sewn up.  
  
Slamming glass after glass of the strongest liquor he could find,   
the manbeast had at all times a ten feet radius cleared around him,   
the many tough patrons of the bar not daring to approach such a well   
known psychopathic killer.  
  
"More drinks!" he screamed, pounding his empty glass on the bar. The   
bartender hesitantly got closer and offered a new bottle, one that   
didn`t quite seem to meet the lupine creature`s approval.  
  
"I`m sorry, sir, it`s the most powerful thing I can get my hands   
on! It`s illegal on forty two planets, I have to get it through   
contraband!!!" pleaded the bartender who still feared the manbeast   
even though had known him for several years now.  
  
"I like you, Big Bob, that`s why I won`t kill you for offering we   
that watered down hogwash... that and because I`m thirsty as hell.   
Give it to me." growled the beast to the smaller man`s obvious   
relief. The man in black smiled under his shroud, he had found his   
man for the job.  
  
"Fenris Wolfang?" he asked. A ghastly silent fell over the entire   
bar as the patrons realized that SOMEONE had been either courageous   
or stupid enough to adress the manbeast by his name.  
  
"You see another manbeast around, shorty?" replied the beast, eyeing   
this stranger who would die soon if he didn`t have a damn good reason   
to interrupt his drinking binge.  
  
"I need an assassin... the best one money can buy."  
  
"You found your man... if the price is right." said Fenris, his   
murderous glare fading down to a contemptuous glance.  
  
"Ten millions, cash, half in advance." replied the cloaked man.  
  
Fenris smiled. "Who could possibly be THAT important... and difficult   
to kill?"  
  
"Her name is written on the back of the picture. I`ll give you   
instructions to her location when you meet me to cash in your fee   
before you leave for the job. See you at airlock three in four   
hours." said the man, taking a small photograph from a hidden pocket   
and flipping it over onto the bar surface in front of the manwolf   
who picked it up and looked at it. The victim in question was a   
young teenage girl with long flowing red hair and eyes shining with   
a cunning wit. On the back was simply written "Princess Crystallite,   
daughter of Queen Beryl".  
  
When Fenris looked back up from the photograph, the man dressed in   
black desert nomad clothes had vanished without a trace or a sound.  
  
"Ten millions... I`d have done it for three!" smirked the manbeast,   
placing the picture in his jacket pocket and breaking the seal off   
the liquor bottle to quench his thirst.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 40  
  
LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER  
  
  
He had been in bed barely two hours, but he was already far gone,   
tossing and turning to the rythm of his wild dreams. He mumbled   
along to the words he said inside his sleeping world, occasionaly   
pronouncing one very clearly.  
  
"Hmmm... Kakyuu..." uttered Seiya.  
  
Standing in the doorway of his brother`s room, Yaten looked at him   
and sighed. "Even in your sleep you can`t get her off your mind, can   
you?"  
  
"Mmm... come to me... Usako..."  
  
Yaten couldn`t believe what he had just heard. Walking to his   
brother, he pulled him out of bed with very little finesse. Waking   
up brutally, Seiya was very ticked off.  
  
"What`d you do THAT for?!? And did you see what time it is? We   
barely got home!" protested Seiya who rubbed his tired eyes.  
  
"You were calling out for her in your sleep."  
  
"So what if I do? I heard you moaning Kakyuu`s name in your sleep   
too once or twice."  
  
"Not just the princess..." replied Yaten. "You were calling out to   
USAKO!"  
  
"Well... if she`s the same person, it`s all the same, isn`t it?"   
snapped Seiya, defending himself.  
  
"You don`t seem to be getting the situation, here, you know. I think   
you`ve been getting a little TOO comfortable with your body, Seiya!   
You`re forgetting who you are! YOU`RE FALLING IN LOVE WITH HER!!!"   
yelled Yaten, throwing over Seiya`s head his bedsheet which he had   
tugged on vigorously to pull his sleepy brother out of bed. "What   
are you trying to do, give our people another reason to think we`re   
freaks?!?"  
  
"So what if I am?!?" replied Seiya, using his voice like a weapon   
against the accusation.  
  
"Because if she`s not her... you`ll get hurt when we leave." said   
Yaten, his voice softening up as he turned away. "Get dressed. I   
think that the conclusion to the battle we just went through was   
just a setup to leave the senshi weak for another strike."  
  
Seiya sat on the floor next to his bed, watching his brother leave   
the room. He silently remained there for a few moments, pondering   
on his words. Deep down inside, Yaten cared for him, he knew that   
well, but what if he DID want to risk his heart on love? What if   
this Usako WAS his princess, then wouldn`t that mean she`d return   
with them and Yaten would be wrong?  
  
This was getting so complicated... why did this darkness have to   
strike earth anyway, forcing things the way they turned out?  
  
"HAUL YOUR ASS INTO GEAR!!!" yelled Yaten from his room.  
  
"KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON!!!" he snapped back. Somehow, it always made him   
feel better to argue with Yaten this way.  
  
* * *  
  
It had taken over nine hours of non-stop work to complete, but   
neither of the two young computer whizzes minded the effort required   
of their daunting task. They were tired, but ever so happy of the   
final results.  
  
"Well, Umino, here goes nothing." said Ami, connecting the last wire   
inside her friend`s personal laptop computer which she had just   
upgraded beyond the normal operating levels of any commercially   
available, bringing it not quite up to Ami`s own laptop but to an   
undisputed second place.   
  
"I`m still not sure how this works..." said Umino as Ami plugged a   
null modem link between the two computers for a software upload.  
  
"It`s quite simple, really... computers have always worked using a   
binary system, by breaking down everything it processes into ones   
and zeroes, a 'yes or no' system. By upgrading your computer to a   
TERNARY system, which can answer by yes, no and MAYBE." she   
explained while the information transferred at a rate greater than   
a hundred megabytes per minute.  
  
"Good thing you increased the capacity of my hard drive too, I`ll   
need every terabyte you added in there!"  
  
(Author`s note: 1 terabyte equals 1000 gigabytes)  
  
"All done." said Ami, unhooking the link and restarting her laptop   
to resume normal operations. "You can start it up now, but it`ll   
take a few minutes for all the plugins attached to your desktop   
program to be organized the first time." she explained, looking at   
her screen while the machine rebooted and relinked itself to the   
senshi communication frequencies, allowing her friends` messages to   
come in through for the first time in many hours.  
  
The communication program instantly activated itself, Rei`s voice   
blaring through the small amplificators.  
  
"...RE ARE YOU??? ANSWER ME!!!" yelled her voice.  
  
"Okay, okay, I`m here, no need to scream!" replied Ami.  
  
"Where were you?" asked Rei.  
  
"Upgrading Umino`s laptop so we could be in constant contact and   
increase our information sharing capacity, why?"  
  
"Because Black Baron struck at us again! He got Minako a few hours   
ago!" she explained.  
  
"That`s terrible... we need to find a way to counter his powers   
against us, and fast." replied Ami, concerned.  
  
"I`m afraid we don`t have this much time... I just made a fire   
reading and I think he`s going to strike again... right now!" said   
Rei.  
  
"ALREADY?!?" blurted out Umino, horrified.  
  
"Of course... attack us again while we`re both weak and off guard...   
he`s a cunning one." said Ami, thinking out loud. "Where?"  
  
"The service station four streets north of your place where Laurella   
usually gets fills up her bike. I have a bad feeling about this   
place; it`s not the location where the darkness is strongest, but   
it`s only one the fire would show me." explained Rei.  
  
"I`ll be there. I haven`t fought the first battle tonight, You`ll   
need fresh reinforcements." said Ami, signing off.  
  
"So that`s three of you already... what could this monster possibly   
want with these, what did Naru call them?" asked Umino.  
  
"Dark splinters." replied Ami.  
  
"Right. What could he be doing with them?"  
  
"I really don`t know. The metaphysical is a bit out of my domain,   
we`d need somebody with dark magic lore to help us out in this case.   
Maybe mom knows something."  
  
Umino`s face dropped when Ami mentionned her mother knowing   
something of the black arts.  
  
"It`s a long story, Umino, one that I`ll tell you when we have time   
just like I told the other senshi... suffice it to say that she is   
much older than she looks, and her past is a lot darker than anyone   
of us ever imagined. She could know something." said Ami, closing   
her laptop and standing up from her kitchen table. She picked up as   
much of the tools, spare microchips, wires and discarded computer   
parts as her arms would allow.  
  
The appartment door rattled as a key unlocked the deadbolt locking   
it shut, doctor Mizuno Akane arriving home. "Hello sweetie, nice to   
see your friend Umino is here." she said.  
  
"We were boosting his laptop`s operating capacity. Say mom, this   
Black Baron I told you about is on the move again, is there anything   
you know from your past about fiends of darkness?" she asked her   
mother directly.  
  
"It`s been too long since I`ve been among these crowds, but... my   
new boyfriend can help you, Ami. I wanted you to meet him, so now`s   
as good a time as any, seeing how he insisted to talk to you about   
Black Baron himself. Ami, this is Mitchell Dreadborne." she said,   
presenting to her daughter the dread knight as he walked in her   
appartment.  
  
Ami froze in place when she recognized the face of the man she once   
had known as the guardian Technuma Saturn, whose body had been taken   
over by the dread lord of darkness Ronmar a few months before. Her   
lips began to tremble as the realization sank in that the creature   
that had once allied itself with Psyche, the man who had mind-raped   
her, was now romantically involved with her own mother. Losing   
control over her actions, her hands let go of every item she   
carried while her throat released the strongest scream she could   
manage.  
  
* * *  
  
Pulling his car in front of his place, Taiki picked up his brothers   
who were ready, more or less, to face yet another battle against   
Black Baron and his blighted ones. They hopped in and a second   
later they were on their way.  
  
"Okay Yaten, you`re more sensitive than any of us- show us the   
way!" said Taiki.  
  
"Go north, I have a feeling it`s there." replied the silver maned   
idol singer.  
  
"Do you guys realize that if that monster wins another battle, the   
tide will be turning in his favor?!?" commented Seiya, yawning his   
jaw off.  
  
"Don`t remind us..." snapped Yaten.  
  
* * *  
  
Still quivering like a leaf in a hurricane, Ami was slowly starting   
to recover from the shock of finding out WHO her mother had fallen   
for, the dread knight Ronmar of all people, who was now living in   
Tokyo under the assumed name Mitchell Dreadborne. Her mother was   
holding for her the hot cup of tea she`d prepared, Ami`s hands still   
too shaky to hold it herself.  
  
"How could you, mom? Don`t you know what he`s done to me? To all of   
us?" she said.  
  
"I don`t have any accountability to you or anyone else regarding my   
love life, Ami, and his new body has changed him." argued Akane.  
  
"It`s true, Ami. Just ask Usako, or even Rei. They`ll vouch for me."   
added Mitchell.  
  
"You bet I`ll ask them..." thought Ami.  
  
"You`re in even deeper trouble than you could possibly imagine, Ami.   
You`ve been facing Black Baron... he`s a fiend of night unlike any   
you have ever encountered." said Mitchell, concern showing on his   
face. Ami was surprised to find that it actually looked genuine.  
  
"What do you know about him?" she asked.  
  
With Umino taking the chance to use his brand new ternary computer   
by writing down everything the dread knight said, Ronmar went on to   
relate his experience with the shadowy being.  
  
"As a dread knight, I was taught the arts of darkness. How to use   
the substance of night as a shield, a weapon, to blend with it and   
become the night. This is where my powers came from." he said.  
  
"But we`ve faced a lot of knightmares, and none of them had a tenth   
of your strenght!" argued Ami.  
  
"Those were lesser knightmares. The greater ones have all received a   
special training... from the grandmaster in the arts of darkness   
himself..." said Ronmar.  
  
"BLACK BARON!!!" completed Akane.  
  
"Correct. He is much more than one with the night, he IS the night.   
Pure darkness, raw evil, a force of black power unmatched in this   
universe save by a few forces that go beyond human comprehension."   
he completed.  
  
"So what are the blighted ones?" asked Umino.  
  
"Lesser knightmares who fail the training. Their souls are torn   
apart by the process and reassembled to become servile minions of   
Black Baron. Their bodies become twisted as well, to reflect their   
permanently warped souls. If a soul it still is..." replied the   
dread knight.  
  
Shivers went through the spines of his audience, their spirits   
horrified by the fall into darkness suffered by the blighted ones.   
They almost felt pity for them, but remembered what these corrupted   
beings had done to Michiru, Haruka and Minako. They had to be   
destroyed, all of them.  
  
"This is the most dangerous enemy you have ever faced... and since   
he is collecting items of a dark nature, you can believe that he has   
a plan on how to use them. Be afraid, my friends, be VERY AFRAID."   
concluded Ronmar.  
  
* * *  
  
Shingo pulled over the motorcycle at the same gas station Laurella   
always went, stepping down to fill up the powerful bike with the   
highest quality gasoline his girlfriend insisted on her little baby   
guzzling up.  
  
"It`s a high performance machine, you know..." she said.  
  
"...and you always put the best into your machine!" completed Shingo   
before she could finish her phrase, annoying her as he knew it would.  
  
"That`s it, make fun of me!" she replied with a big pout.  
  
"I only make fun of those I love, you know." said Shingo, smiling to   
the seductive brunette.  
  
"Yeah, I know. You`re adorable when you`re annoying, I might add."   
said Laurella, returning the charming smile.  
  
"Thanks for letting me drive your bike, you`re so protective of it   
in other circumstances."  
  
"I needed my full concentration for this... and there`s nobody else   
I`d trust with my bike. You`re the only man for me, Shingo, I`d die   
for you... again."  
  
"And I`d lay down my life if it could save yours." replied the   
athletic young man, embracing his girlfriend and kissing her softly.  
  
"I have to get a renewal of my prescription." whispered Laurella in   
his ear after she broke the sweet tasting kiss. Shingo`s eyes grew   
wider, understanding well what sort of pills she`d be getting and   
what she did with them. "I`ll go to the mall nearby, the drugstore   
is open round the clock."  
  
Laurella handed over to Shingo her gas station credit card along   
with a quick peck on the cheek, asking him to remember to ask for   
the bonus points for the fillup. She then ran across the street to   
the closed mall where only the drugstore windows were still lit up.  
  
Unknown to either of them, a strange being clad in flowing black   
clothes was following the young lady, slithering his way across the   
concrete lanes in an unnatural fashion. The blighted one held his   
deadly blade ready underneath his cloak, the handle itching between   
his scaly fingers.  
  
* * *  
  
Rei climbed the stairs leading to Ami`s place, knowing exactly how   
many steps there was from the many times she`d been to her friend`s   
place to for those extra long study sessions the brainy girl liked   
so much. Reaching the luxirious appartment`s door, she rang the bell   
and was surprised to see who answered the door, though she wasn`t   
shocked the way Ami had been.  
  
"Oh... hello Mitchell!" she said, even smiling to the dread knight.   
She seemed pleased to see him there.  
  
"Hello, Rei. I`ve been told about your encouter with Black Baron...   
I gave Ami some important information that I hope will help you   
fight him. If you`ll excuse me, I must leave you to the battle   
ahead of you." he replied, moving past her and leaving.  
  
"Hey, where are you going? Aren`t you going to help us?" she asked.  
  
"He can`t help us, Rei. And neither can mom." said Ami, joining Rei   
with her laptop under her arm. "The dark origin of their powers   
would render them defenseless against our newest enemy."  
  
"Too bad... we could have used his strength." sighed Rei.  
  
"Hey, you still have me!!!" protested Umino, his newly upgraded   
laptop in hand.  
  
Ami and Rei looked at each other... right now Umino was the only   
edge they had against Black Baron. The idea sent a chill down their   
spines.  
  
* * *  
  
The snakelike blighted one coiled itself in a dark corner of the   
mall which was closed for the night, except for the all-night   
drugstore where his victim was picking up her monthly reserve of   
contraceptives. The beast bidded his time, planning to use darkness   
and surprise to its advantage for a quick, efficient kill. It   
climbed on the wall and made it`s way to the upper balcony to get   
the drop on her when she`d exit the well lit store.  
  
He looked inside from his vantage point as the young woman waited   
for her prescription to be filled by the pharmacist, eyeing the   
different lubricants alongside the condom packages display.  
  
"That`s it, little girl, let your lusty thoughts distract you from   
the hunter... the hunter shall rip your heart from your chest before   
you even get a chance to realize what happens!" he thought.  
  
He pulled the knife from his cloak, marveling at the sinuous designs   
on the well crafted blade. Soon he would cover it with a young girl`s   
blood, and lick it right off.  
  
* * *  
  
The three lights`s sleek sportscar slowly halted in a low circulation   
backstreet, its owners getting ready for the rough fight ahead.  
  
"It`s going to happen in that mall we just went by." said Yaten, his   
senses rattled by the feeling of evil he picked up there.  
  
"Good. Let`s transform and do this." said Seiya, opening the   
passenger door and stepping out as he pulled a small star shaped   
medallion from his jacket pocket. Taiki and Yaten left the car as   
well, producing similar medallions from their pockets.  
  
They rose these medallions in the air without hesitation, all three   
reciting the power-up phrase that would radically change their   
appearance.  
  
"FIGHTER STAR POWER MAKEUP!!!" said Seiya.  
  
"MAKER STAR POWER MAKEUP!!!" said Taiki.  
  
"HEALER STAR POWER MAKEUP!!!" said Yaten.  
  
In a flash of stars and light, the clothes of the three young men   
vanished as their bodies began to shift form. They shrank by a few   
inches in height, their frame softening at the shoulders and   
widening at the hips. Their muscle mass became more compact, giving   
an overall sleeker, gentler look. Their facial features then turned   
softer as well while their breasts increased in size, their bodies   
taking on the full features of three young women, their true form   
which was efficiently disguised by their fake male form.  
  
Once they were completely female, skimpy black leather outfits   
decorated with a star shaped jewel holding their top in place put   
the final touch to the incredible transformation which lasted less   
than a second.  
  
"I`m beginning to feel weird in this form. I can`t wait until we can   
dump the male form for good!" grumbled Star Fighter.  
  
"It works well for now. Live with it, you seem good at that!" snapped   
Star Healer.  
  
"Shut up!" replied Fighter.  
  
In quick bounces, the three women warriors were gone.  
  
* * *  
  
Laurella walked out of the drugstore, her attention focused on the   
contents of the small paperbag bearing the store name. She peeked   
through making sure she had every item she intended to buy, smiling   
that she didn`t forget anything... yet something bothered her. It   
wasn`t from her errands. It wasn`t because of her motorbike either...   
what was it?  
  
Then it struck her. Well, it didn`t strike her a much as it missed   
her throat by an inch, her intuition kicking in to make her roll   
away from the blighted one`s blade swipe. Ducking and turning   
around, she quickly snapped into action. Laurella sent a swift kick   
to his stomach, buying herself the time to transform.  
  
"JENDRA SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!!!"  
  
Her clothes vanished for her white and silver fuku. With five   
metallic flashes, her protective gear appeared in place to complete   
the change.  
  
"Let`s fight you and me!!!" said Laurella, her hand shining as   
Bladewind formed between her fingers.  
  
"You`re looking at me." whispered the blighted one, keeping its eyes   
on the floor, afraid that Sailor Jendra might see them.  
  
"Huh? What did you say?"  
  
"STOP LOOKING AT ME!!!" screamed the monster, jumping on her   
suddenly in a leaping motion that reminded her of a snake going in   
for the kill. Out of reflex, she slashed with her sacred weapon at   
the leaping creature, ripping off the dark shroud on its face.  
  
Sailor Jendra was horrified to see the reptilian face staring at   
her... she screamed out loud like when she used to watch horror   
movie by herself in the dark, or when she woke up from the dreadful   
nightmares that plagued her life for so many years.  
  
"I FORBID YOU TO LOOK AT ME!!!" yelled the blighted one, spitting a   
thick foul liquid in her face, dripping along her neck and seeping   
into her eyes under her visor. Her skin tingled as the venom entered   
through her pores, numbing all sensation. She quickly found herself   
blinded and paralyzed, her hands stopping to respond as she tried to   
remove the liquid from her face and smearing her hands in the   
process. Not even the leather of her gloves seemed like any   
protection from the vile substance. Her rapidly numbing fingers   
soon let go of her diamond chakram which went down in a loud   
clanging sound.  
  
Her heart hammered in her chest, fear gripping the young senshi as   
she fell down helplessly. At the blighted one`s mercy, she was   
experiencing terror like she never felt before. She`d gone through   
so much in her life, all this pain and suffering, all these   
tragedies after which even death was refused to her. It had been   
little more than half a year since she had met her old friends from   
her last life, her old lover whom she was fated to meet again, it   
wasn`t enough time for her, she wanted more. So much more.  
  
"Die, girl!" hissed the blighted one, raising his knife in the air   
for the final blow.  
  
Laurella wanted to scream out for her knight in shining green armor   
to come, but her numb lips were muted by the acrid venom spitten in   
her face. She could feel the desperate anguish of her enemy, the   
gnawing evil eating away at his long destroyed soul, slowly mauling   
whatever was left of what used to be a strong spirit broken by the   
darkness of Black Baron.  
  
She also felt something else, another presence rapidly approaching   
them. It was filled with a burning rage fueled by undying love.  
  
"Kit..." she barely managed to mumble, managing a faint smile.  
  
Hearing the running steps coming towards him, the blighted one   
turned around to see the young Tsukino Shingo charging him at full   
speed, leaping forward to travel in mid-air the last six feet   
separating the two warriors, his emerald green armor forming itself   
in a sudden flash of Technum energy over his muscled body. Hitting   
the vile fiend head-on, the added mass of his battle armor allowed   
him to overtake the blighted one and crush him under his weight   
against the hard concrete floor, a hideous bone crunching sound   
raising from the snakelike being.  
  
Getting back to his feet, Emerald Knight was satisfied that the   
blighted one wasn`t moving. He had a quick grin, feeling avenged for   
the horrible act that the monster had almost commited.  
  
"Are you alright, darling?" he asked, removing his helmet and   
kneeling next to his girlfriend who was still sprawled on the floor,   
slowly recovering from the incapacitating venom.  
  
"Y... yeah... will... be... soon..." she stuttered, smiling as she   
started to regain her sight and saw the concerned face of the man   
of her dreams. "Th... thanks..."  
  
"Don`t move too fast, you`re still weak." he replied, picking her   
in his arms. "Oops, I forgot to take your chakram!" he remembered   
as he walked her out of the mall.  
  
"No... problem..." she whispered. "R... re... return."  
  
The diamond weapon responded immediately to the verbal command of   
its owner, lifting from the ground and soaring through the air   
straight into Sailor Jendra`s hand.  
  
"That never ceases to amaze me." commented the knight. Jendra   
giggled. She felt safe in his arms.  
  
* * *  
  
The blighted one laid broken on the floor, distastefully soiling the   
front entrance of a hip clothing store where Robin had taken to go   
shopping on a weekly basis. Several of its bones had been brutally   
crushed by the vengeful Emerald Knight just as he was going to   
succeed in the mission given to him by his master.  
  
A weak gurgling sound rose from his lips, a smidgen of life still   
flowing through his miserable excuse of a body, not quite dead yet   
but looking so to anyone not trained in high arts of medecine and   
life.  
  
A dark shifting form came out of nowhere, towering above the nearly   
dead monster. It silently stood there, looking down onto the fallen   
warrior with utter contempt.  
  
"I... failed... you... great... master..." he somehow managed to   
say.  
  
"You`re not dead yet. You may yet live to succeed, my minion."   
replied an ominous voice not quite centered in the dark form of   
Black Baron.  
  
Black energy flowed unevenly from the hands of Black Baron,   
regenerating the body of his blighted one to ready him for another   
battle still.  
  
"Thank you, great master, the hunter shall not fail again." said   
the corrupt warrior, bowing to his master and turning around to   
chase his victim again.  
  
"You better not." whispered Black Baron, vanishing as the words   
echoed into the night.  
  
* * *  
  
Two senshi and their nerdy friend entered the closed shopping mall,   
following the homing signal in Laurella`s communicator. Sailor Mars   
could feel the evil emanating from the place, while Mercury`s   
computer detected a strange form of energy inside. Umino was only   
too glad to be along for the ride.  
  
"There they are!" said Mars when she saw Emerald Knight carrying   
Sailor Jendra in their direction.  
  
"Emerald Knight, Jendra... what happened?" asked Mercury.  
  
"Another blighted one attacked Jendra. I destroyed him before he   
could hurt my precious angel." said Shingo, his eyes glowing with   
love as he mentionned her.  
  
"It`s not over, I`m afraid. He`s still in here." said Mercury,   
pointing to her readings.  
  
"Then let`s finish the job. I hate leaving loose threads hanging   
around." said Shingo, putting Jendra down at a cafeteria table and   
materializing a green halberd in his hand.  
  
"I`ll stay behind with her, don`t worry. We`ll be fine." offered   
Umino.  
  
"I know where we left the body. He can`t be far from there..."   
replied the knight, putting his helmet back on. "This will only   
take a minute, sweetie."  
  
"He doesn`t stand a chance... I hope I can get better in time to   
help you destroy him!" said Jendra, smiling. She could see much   
better now, and feeling was returning to her face and hands.  
  
"Just stay here and relax, you`ve been through enough for one   
night." said Mercury.  
  
"Let us have some fun too!" quickly added Mars. Jendra couldn`t   
disagree with the determination of all three of her friends at once.   
She sadly looked at them walk into combat once again.  
  
"Hey, at least you still have ME!!!" said Umino cheerfully as he   
sat besides her and opened up his newly enhanced laptop to show her   
some cool pictures of the senshi in action he got from the internet.  
  
"Oh, great..." sighed Jendra, slamming her head down hard on the   
table.  
  
  
To be continued...  
  



	41. Suddenly a Twist of Fate

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue... three years ago  
  
  
Fenris Wolfang made his way across the Thunderport III cloud city   
on his way to the boarding area where both his ship and his new   
employer were waiting. He still felt a slight hangover from the   
heavy drinking he`d been indulging himself in at the sleazy   
Halflife bar for the past four hours.  
  
He`d have plenty of time to take care of that on his way to his   
next hit, thanks to the many bottles of strong liquor he packed in   
his satchel. He`d be cooked up in yet another utterly cramped   
passenger cabin for a while, if you can call a cabin a one meter   
ovoid shape enclosed space with just enough padding to choke you   
if you fell asleep in the wrong position and a small television   
screen perpetually airing the most inane talkshows.  
  
"No wonder I took up drinking..." thought Fenris, imagining his   
upcoming trip.  
  
The crowds along the walkways hurried out of his way, knowing well   
what the huge manwolf was capable of, especially after one of his   
drinking binges.  
  
At the very end of the airlock corridor, Fenris met with the same   
black clad man who had hired him a few hours before, a suitcase   
waiting by his side.  
  
"Glad you made it, Fenris. Your money is here." he said.  
  
"So where are you shipping me to? Rishakan? Tollaya? The   
end-of-space wastes?" asked the snarling manwolf.  
  
"Another dimension altogether. The necessary assistance will be   
given to you once you reach our other operatives on the next planet.   
The trip there will take less than seven hours." said the man,   
handing over the heavy suitcase to Fenris who grabbed it greedily.  
  
"Just enough time to get nicely drunk on my way there." added   
Fenris.  
  
"Yes... there are some extra bottles in your cabin in case you run   
out. I am aware of your drinking tastes." replied the man.  
  
"Thanks... going to love working for you." said Fenris, entering   
the airlock which slammed shut behind him. A few moments later, the   
dirty transport carrier taking Fenris Wolfang to his destiny.  
  
The man dressed in black clothes similar to that of desert nomads   
stared from the windows to the depths of space where the starship   
was entering warp speed. A few moments after the ship had   
accelerated beyond the speed of light, a sinister shadow loomed   
over the small frame of the blighted one. His master had arrived.  
  
"Great lord of the dark, my mission is accomplished." he said,   
bowing.  
  
Black Baron nodded, acknowledging his minion`s success.  
  
"Master, may I ask a question?" asked the blighted one. Hearing no   
reply from Black Baron, he took that as a yes. "Why are we trying   
to kill the daughter of Beryl? Isn`t she serving our interests   
right now?"  
  
"Correct." echoed the dreadful disembodied voice of Black Baron.   
"For now. My mistress is planning for the future at all times, and   
this strategy is insurance for the eventual failure of this all too   
flawed women."  
  
The blighted one bowed, content with the answer he received.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 41  
  
SUDDENLY A TWIST OF FATE  
  
  
"Well hello, there, miss Neko!" said the security guard at the   
reception of the Poldzer Triangle when he saw the seductive   
associate of his employers walking in. She swayed her hips and   
moved her arms in the most bewitching manner, oozing sensuality   
out of every pore.  
  
"Please, call me Cathryn!" she replied, smiling invitingly.  
  
"Late night work, I take it, Cathryn?"  
  
"You bet, to move ahead in business you have to be willing to work   
at any time of day." she said, moving her long slim fingers through   
her short auburn hair. She also had long fingernails that looked   
they could cut you to ribbons in one swipe... although her demeanor   
indicated she`d rather use them for... other purposes.  
  
"That`s not for me, that`s for sure. Give me stable, predictable   
shifts any day!" said the man, smiling like an idiot at the   
charming woman.  
  
"Thanks, Toshiro, have a good night!" said Cathryn, sliding her   
winter coat off her shoulders and walking to the elevator behind the   
reception desk. The guard turned around discreetly and took a long   
stare at her slim, shapely legs- Cathryn could feel his eyes on her  
body, and she was loving every second of it, exagerating her hip   
movements to give him an even better look.  
  
She pressed the button beside the elevator door; as she waited, she  
dropped a pen from the coat she was holding in her arms. She bent   
over directly to pick it up, still turning her back to the man at   
the front desk. Her very sensitive ears detected his accelerated   
breathing, and she was rather pleased of herself. Showing off her   
perfect forms with tight blouses and very short skirts was somewhat  
of a hobby to her. Dropping her pen "by accident" happened only too   
often in the company of men...  
  
With a short ring, the elevator slid open and she disappeared inside.  
  
"I hope she drops that pen again soon..." thought the guard, turning  
his attention to the many security monitors in front of him.  
  
Inside the elevator, Cathryn pulled a small golden key which she   
turned inside a slot on the control panel underneath the buttons.   
The panel clicked, and the destination indicator switched to "60"   
while the elevator cabin sped upwards.  
  
A minute later, the elevator doors opened onto the penthouse of   
Crystallite and Fenris.  
  
The lights were turned off for the most part, save one near the   
couch where Fenris was sitting, dimmed to a point where it gave   
almost no light. The manwolf looked at her, a gloomy expression  
on his face.  
  
"Here you are at last. I was waiting for you." growled the manwolf,  
his deep voice heavy with reproach.  
  
"Hey, the humans adore me, what can I say? I`d be a fool to let it  
go by... besides, it`s not like anyone here has offered to fulfill  
MY needs!" she replied.  
  
"Regardless, you should still be on time." said Fenris. "And I   
expect you not to use your human disguise in my presence, or in   
Crystallite`s."  
  
"Okay, then..." she said, shifting her form to a sleek feline   
humanoid look, her eyes becoming those of a cat, her skin covering   
itself with auburn short fur while her ears became long and  
pointed. Her nails turned into very sharp claws. "Better?"  
  
"Yes, Cathra, much better." said Fenris, a smile returning to his   
face.  
  
"So... where`s your precious girlfriend? Aren`t you always by her   
side?" asked the cat youma.  
  
"She`s sleeping, and I couldn`t. Besides, she`s the one who deals   
with Black Baron, I don`t want her to know of what I`m about to   
tell you."  
  
"You`re going over her head? Sneaking behind the back of Beryl`s   
daughter???" blurted out Cathra who was stunned at Fenris` plan. "I   
want in!!!"  
  
"I knew you`d accept. I want you to spy on Black Baron and his   
blighted ones... I haven`t seen them in action yet, but their   
actions seem to be effective... and I want to know why. You will use  
total discretion regarding these shadow beings at all times, you`ll   
be reporting to me directly, and most of all... you won`t breathe a  
word of this to Crystallite." instructed the large manbeast.  
  
"You`re playing in her back and yet I feel you still care for her   
deeply." observed the sly catwoman.  
  
"Yes, I do. I`d do anything for her. ANYTHING."  
  
"Speaking of our esteemed leader, I was curious, Fenris..."   
whispered Cathra as she got closer to Fenris. "When you make love to  
her, does she actually use words, or just moan like an animal?"   
she asked, purring loudly.  
  
Fenris pulled away from her, repelled by her actions.  
  
"I would never do anything to disrespect her!" he protested. "And   
besides, her fragile body could never handle such a strain... she`s  
like a porcelain doll, not meant to be played with but placed in a  
glass casing to be protected, admired... adored."  
  
"Then maybe it`s time you played with an action figure..." she   
said.  
  
Cathra moved in front of him, flexing her highly acrobatic body in   
unusual poses. She then dropped to the ground in a swift motion,   
making a full frontal split with no apparent effort. "I`m fully   
posable, you know..."  
  
"Get out of my face, Cathra... count yourself lucky that Crystallite  
didn`t send you to the Osaka mission like all the other creations   
of Thorelia, otherwise you`d be no more than another splattered   
stain on a cavern wall." growled Fenris. "Displease me and it could   
still happen."  
  
Cathra hopped to her feet and hurried out of the penthouse, feeling   
she might have pushed her luck just a smidgen too far this time.  
  
* * *  
  
The courageous Emerald Knight led the hunt, his sparkling green   
halberd in hand. Close behind him were Sailor Mars and Mercury,   
their sacred weapons Hellfire and Deadshot in hand. All three of   
them kept an eye out for the many shadowy corners where a sneaky   
blighted one was likely to hide, and there were a lot of those.  
  
Sailor Mars kept her psychic senses open, trying to pinpoint the   
source of the evil she felt around them; Mercury, on the other   
hand, had her visor tapping into her computer sensors and getting   
an enhanced image feed for infrared signals.  
  
Although he had no special perceptions to guide him, Shingo relied   
on his warrior instincts to help him through. After all, those same   
instincts had allowed him to crush the vile fiend once before after   
alerting him of his girlfriend`s near demise. Anger stil burned in   
his heart over that one- NOBODY hurts his one true love and gets   
away with it!!!  
  
It didn`t take the trio too long to find the snakelike being, the   
coiled blighted one suddenly springing from a dark corner with two   
twisted blades in his hands ready to strike. The knight blocked the  
knives easily and gave a quick shove to throw the beast back while   
Mercury readied an ice arrow and aimed.  
  
What happened next seemed somewhat surreal to the three warriors,   
as the serpentman began a strange danse of darkness that somehow   
engulfed his shapes in the surrounding absence of light and made   
him that much harder to locate, almost impossible to see.  
  
"Where`d he go?!?" asked Mars as she readied one of her wards   
against evil which she had intended to use.   
  
"He`s made himself almost invisible- I can barely see anything   
at all in infrared, he`s not even giving off any heat!" replied   
Mercury.  
  
"Keep your ears open, girls, this is going to be a rough one." said   
Shingo, closing his eyes and trying to figure where the blighted   
one was. He hoped his recent training would be enough to help him   
through that battle.  
  
* * *  
  
"Those aren`t good for you, Laurella, they could really damage your  
health!" complained Umino as Sailor Jendra lit her cigarette.  
  
"So can razor blades, but I lived." wryly replied the young senshi.   
One thing she hated was being reprimanded over this one flaw she   
never could manage to shake off.  
  
"I`m just concerned, that`s all." said Umino with genuine concern   
on his face.  
  
"Sorry I bit your head off there... I`ve just been a bit edgy about  
that ever since Akuma almost killed me during the inferno. He made   
the same comment before beating the hell out of me that day." said   
Laurella before blowing a serie on neat little smoke rings.  
  
"Yeah. I guess we`ve all had our share of demon related pain."   
agreed Umino, remembering how Ronmar had taken away his precious   
Naru one summer night. The following two weeks, he had hovered in   
a state of emotional limbo, living but not really alive.  
  
Suddenly, Laurella sat up straight like Usagi waking up in class,   
a terrified look on her face.  
  
"Whoa, what`s the matter?" wondered the geeky Umino.  
  
"Something`s coming over here." whispered Jendra, beads of sweat   
dripping on her brow.  
  
"The blighted one? I thought the others would have blocked his   
way..."  
  
"NO!!! Not the blighted one... something... worse... a hundred   
times worse..." stuttered the frightened senshi as her empathic   
senses were assaulted with the immense force of evil moving their   
way. She had no idea anything in the universe could be so utterly   
devoid of any kindness as that thing, but there it was, coming her   
way. And very quickly, she could feel it.  
  
* * *  
  
All around them the shadows were dancing, taunting and mocking the   
three young warriors who were desperately trying to locate where   
the blighted one was really placed.  
  
"I can`t make him out in this crowd!!!" yelled Emerald Knight in   
exasperation, a dozen shadows identical in shape shifting in front   
of him, every single one lunging with the deadly blades in its   
hands. No matter which shadow attacked him, it seemed that every   
one could inflict some serious damage as the slash marks added up   
on his armor plates.  
  
"He`s one of them, I can feel it, but I just can`t tell which one!"   
replied Mars. She took yet another swing with the sacred blade that   
burned as strongly as her soul, slicing up another empty presence   
of darkness. The illusion melded itself back into the heavy mass at   
their feet before reforming fully at another location.  
  
"They`re trying to confuse us, we shouldn`t destroy any of them   
until we figure out where the REAL one is!!!" confirmed Mercury.  
  
Shingo felt a powerful jolt of fear grasping his chest, an   
unimaginable terror that he knew wasn`t his own. His bond with   
Laurella was warning him of the danger that was closing in on her.  
  
"Sailor Jendra`s in danger, I have to help her!!!" he screamed,   
panicking as he was unable to see any way of going through the   
huddled masses of black shadows shaped as the blighted one.  
  
"We have to find a weakness in him, a way to defeat him..." said   
Mercury, her explanation cut short by a swift slash across her   
left arm.   
  
Sailor Mars did her best to focus her perceptions, but dodging   
dozens of lethal knife stabs was effectively preventing her from   
concentrating. They were losing that fight.  
  
* * *  
  
"Where?" asked Umino, unable to locate anything on his highly   
performant computer. If he couldn`t find it there, it meant either   
that it just wasn`t there or that it was too powerful to be found...  
  
"It`s... it`s..." tried to say Laurella, pointing to the nearby mall   
entrance from which flooded dark smog that congealed itself into a   
barely human form that held a roughly recognizable shape.  
  
"There!" she finally managed to say. Her senses were quickly   
overloading with the supernatural essence of Black Baron, his   
awesome presence beaming out inhuman amounts of hatred, loathing,  
anger and disgust blended together into a single sickening emotion.  
  
"Stay away from her!" commanded Umino in a momentary burst of   
courage. The dark being slowly turned its head around, a pair of   
blood red eyes illuminating onto its face to stare right into   
Umino`s.   
  
"What will you do about it, little worm?" asked an ominous   
reverberating voice not quite coming from Black Baron.  
  
Umino felt fear gripping his stomach and twisting it around in   
knots, but for some reason this feeling of courage he was   
experiencing wouldn`t let go of his spirit.  
  
"I won`t let you hurt my friend!!!" added Umino, seriously   
wondering if he was having a temporary lapse of reason for   
challenging such a menacing fiend.  
  
Black Baron lifted a hand and pointed a finger to Umino. The young   
man was flung behind in the air over a dozen feet away from where he  
stood, an invisible force blasting him as if a bolt of lightning had  
hit him squarely in the chest. "Annoying twerp." muttered Black   
Baron before returning his attention to Sailor Jendra.  
  
Trying to stand up and resist the psychic onslaught, she summoned   
her diamond Chakram again, a rainbow colored flash of light   
materializing into the shining weapon. Her arms, however, had grown   
too weak to allow her a good throw.  
  
The shadowy fiend didn`t do anything. He just stood there, imposing   
his twisted feelings to the overwhelmed empath who couldn`t stand   
so much pain. Her weakened distraught soul was beginning to give   
in under the attack.  
  
"Do not resist me, young one, give me what I came for..." said   
Black Baron, smiling as best as his dark form would allow him.  
  
"N... never..." whispered Jendra, grasping her head in her hands.   
She had her weapon right there in her right hand, yet she was unable   
to use it. Desperation came, the last thing she could distinctly   
recall before the final blow to her battered soul.  
  
"GIVE IT TO ME!!!" bellowed Black Baron, his voice making the   
ground and walls shake around him as his shadowy clawed hands   
reached forward and raked the surface of her aura, digging in deep  
to inflict as much damage as he could.  
  
The wounded girl screamed as she fell down, a fractured black piece   
of her soul flying off from her body and into Black Baron`s hand.  
  
"Another one falls." he muttered, very satisfied of his victory.  
  
* * *  
  
Shingo screamed as he felt his girlfriend being torn apart from the  
inside, freaked out and tried to escape the deathtrap set by the   
blighted one`s secret powers of darkness.  
  
"Stop it! They`ll shred you apart!!!" yelled Mars, holding him back   
as best she could.  
  
"I DON`T CARE!!!" yelled the knight who tried to shake off Mars to   
jump into the fray and hack his way through.  
  
Sailor Mercury knew she couldn`t stop Shingo from running to his   
lover; she had seen just how much he loved her, and that death   
meant nothing to him if he could save the life of the woman he had   
pledged his soul to. She wanted to clear a path with her powers   
while Mars held him still, but the continuous assault of shadows was  
preventing her from lowering her defenses for even a few seconds.   
Should she try to use her Aqua Illusion, she would be stabbed in   
the back several times over.  
  
"If only we`d been able to reach the others in time..." thought   
Mercury, more and more of the dark blades bouncing off her   
breastplate and arm protectors.  
  
At this moment, the last thing they expected happened.   
Reinforcements arrived.  
  
"STAR GENTLE YUTRACE!!!"  
  
"STAR SIRIUS LASER!!!"  
  
"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!!"  
  
Three blasts of energy unlike anything the senshi had ever seen   
soared across the lenght of the mall walkway from the second   
balcony and detonated amongst the huddled mass of shadow, clearing  
a temporary opening which Emerald Knight took immediately after   
breaking off the grip of Sailor Mars. His speed was impressive   
considering the armor her wore.  
  
"Follow him, quickly before they fill the gap!" urged Mercury to   
her sister senshi. "I have help to finish this up now, I`ll be   
fine- help the knight!"  
  
Mars understood that Shingo would need help to face whatever was   
attacking Laurella, so she ran fast across the slowly reforming mass  
of shadows. As the three Sailor Starlights hopped from their high   
perched location to join in on the battle, Mercury smiled.   
  
"My turn now!" she said, smirking.   
  
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!" she yelled, summoning a small drop of water   
which she transformed into an icy wave of death that bowled through   
the ranks like a plow through fresh snow on the road.   
  
"Boy, did that feel good..." she thought.  
  
* * *  
  
"Jendra?" asked Emerald Knight in concern as he reached the small   
eating area where he`d left Umino and Laurella a few minutes before.   
The first one he found was Umino who was gradually waking up from   
the backward leap he had been through courtesy of Black Baron.  
  
"I`m... sorry..." muttered Umino, barely able to see who was helping  
him up.  
  
"Where`s Laurella?" he asked, his voice heavy with tension.  
  
"Can`t.. remember... that shadow guy knocked me out..." he mumbled.  
  
At that moment, Shingo heard and felt the painful sobs of his   
defeated girlfriend. He went to the source of the crying, and found  
Laurella curled up on the floor amidst the shattered remains of her  
sacred weapon, her senshi fuku gone. She was back to her normal   
self now, her regular clothes returned by the forced transformation.  
  
"My god... what`s that bastard done to you?!?"  
  
"He... he..." tried to say Laurella, but she couldn`t as much as   
finish her phrases. Shingo felt the suffering she experienced, her   
soul bleeding itself to oblivion.  
  
"I`ll get him for that, I swear!" vowed the knight.  
  
Sailor Mars arrived after him at the scene only to witness their   
failure to protect their good friend. The evil one had beaten them   
to the punch once again. Or had he...  
  
"I think he`s still around here..." thought Mars.  
  
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" she said, forming a flaming bow and arrow in   
her hands. While Shingo took care of his broken lover, she would   
kill the monster who did this to her.  
  
"What are you doing, Mars?" asked Umino who picked up his glasses   
on the floor. He put them back on and thought himself lucky they   
didn`t break.  
  
"Using my awareness to find where he`s hiding. He`s still around,   
I can feel it!" she replied.  
  
"I`ll go to my computer, maybe that can help..." suggested Umino.   
Mars didn`t respond, her attention focused entirely on her opening   
senses. She wanted to let the impressions come to her, and come   
they did.  
  
She felt the slowly moving tendrils of despair floating across the   
room, through the air, increasingly reaching across the city to   
choke it into a strangle hold of pitch blackness. It led to him,   
talked to her in a language bloated in threats and menaces. She   
was on the right track, so she opened the window of her mind just   
a bit more, closing her eyes and letting her mystic perceptions   
guide her aim.  
  
Unknown to anyone, the smooth forms of the being of shadows slowly   
covering her own. His hands moved onto her hands, gently covering   
them like a master archer guides a pupil in her first shot. His   
head moved close to hers, whispering songs of dread into her ears   
to poison her soul with filth and lies.  
  
Inch by inch, he made her turn around, forcing her to take a target   
of his own choosing. When he stopped her from moving around, her   
flame sniper was aimed directly at the back of the unsuspecting   
Emerald Knight, poised to pierce a fiery hole in his hard pumping   
heart.  
  
"It`s only too easy to destroy that which you hate, young soul of   
fire..." whispered the voice of Black Baron in her ear, using her   
uncanny perception of the mystical to invade her mind. "But do   
you have the strength to destroy that which you love? Do you have   
the power to overtake the limits sent upon yourself by the will   
of your kind?"  
  
Sailor Mars` hands wavered in hesitation, her clouded mind refusing  
her a clear grasp at the situation before her eyes. Her will was   
battling against the evil one`s power, like two bulls locking horns   
in a fight neither would accept to lose.  
  
"Surrender your futile belief in love, your hope in the future...   
let go of it all." whispered the evil voice.  
  
The young warrior resisted all she could, but the power of Black   
Baron was darker still than any she`d ever encountered in her   
existance. Against every ounce of willpower she could muster, the   
strength of the being`s mind overcame her; she released her   
fingers, shooting her fiery projectile towards the heart of the   
Emerald Knight.  
  
Then everything around her went dark.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	42. The Storm Before The Calm

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Before I start... I feel I must make a point here. You probably   
wonder why I wrote the attacks of the starlights the way I did   
last episode.  
  
The reason why I wrote "Star Gentle Yutrace" instead of "Star   
Gentle Uterus" and "Star Sirius Laser" instead of "Star Serious   
Laser" is simply because they both sound IDENTICAL in japanese,  
due to the lack of separate sounds for the letters "R" and "L".  
  
I felt that "Yutrace" sounded much more credible than "Uterus" in   
Maker`s case, while in Fighter`s case I also saw the spelling   
"Sirius Raiser", another phonetic possibility. I chose "Sirius"   
over "Serious", but kept the "Laser" as it did sound like a cool   
power attack word to use.  
  
As for Healer, "Sensitive Inferno" offers no possible   
misinterpretation, nor does it sound wimpy in any way.   
  
Those are my choices, not just random changes or errors on my part.   
Now on with the show.  
  
* * *  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
Unable to sleep as she often was, a young girl silently slipped out   
of her room and walked along the psychiatric hospital corridors she  
had come to know, although she had no real idea where she really   
was. Her unstable mind having snapped after she witnessed the death   
of her brother two years before, Yohko became completely convinced   
that she was Alice in Lewis Caroll`s famous novel "Alice in   
Wonderland".   
  
Being a harmless, innocent and friendly girl, her room was never   
locked overnight. Her treating doctor was aware of her frequent   
insomnia and felt that allowing her to take a walk in the outside   
garden would be good for her. The hospital personel always kept   
the garden fence`s doors locked for safety reasons, so she couldn`t   
leave the premises anyway.  
  
This is how "Alice" had come about to put on her warm clothes, boots   
and coat to enjoy the starry sky of this mild winter night. Weather   
had been harsh for several months during which time she could hardly   
set foot outside for fear of frostbite, but things had smoothed over   
since then.  
  
Hugging in her arms a big plush bunny, she looked at the stars   
wondering if any of her friends would come out that night. The mad   
hatter hadn`t shown up for the daily unbirthday parties in days   
now and Tweedle Dee was confined to his room for pushing Humpty   
Dumpty off his wall... or at least this is how she interpreted   
Psyche`s escape and a psychotic patient throwing a television set   
off its stand.  
  
"Hello, Alice." whispered a little voice near her, hidden in a   
tree.  
  
"Who`s there? Where are you?" she asked, looking around and seeing  
no one.  
  
"Up here. On the branch."  
  
Alice looked up and saw in the moonlight the silhouette of a cat   
lying down on the branch, his tail swinging left and right like a   
pendulum. In the moon`s pale glow, she could make out his wide smile  
and the glimmering symbol on his forehead, a golden crescent moon.  
  
"Chesterfield! You came!!!" said Alice, overjoyed. She ran to the   
tree, her long black hair flowing in the gentle breeze.  
  
"I even brought you a gift, honey." said the cat.  
  
"Really? Can I see?" asked Alice, excited like a little girl on   
christmas morning.  
  
"Of course... here it is!" said the cat, his white fur shining in   
the moonlight as he hopped in the hair, twirling in a quick   
sommersault that seemed to pull a small object out of thin air   
which Alice caught in her open hand.  
  
"What is it?" she asked, looking at the well carved red gem in her   
hand.  
  
"A way for you to get back home, honey, to get the strength you   
need to find the door again and go back up the rabbit`s hole."   
said the cat.  
  
"It`s pretty... how does it work?" she replied, hugging tightly   
her plush rabbit with one arm while she looked at the red gem   
reflect light off its many facets.  
  
"Just place it in your palm, and think about the power you wish to   
gain." he told her.  
  
She did just that, concentrating on the gem from which a warm glow   
began to pour. "It`s tickling my skin." she said.  
  
"Don`t worry, sweetheart, you won`t feel the tingling at all in a   
few seconds... when the searing pain kicks in." said the cat.  
  
At that very moment, the gem`s glow increased tenfold, chewing its   
way through her skin and burning the cartilage and bone in order   
to imbed itself in her palm. The pain was so sudden, so shocking,   
that it took Alice at least a minute to be able to regain her   
ability to scream, and scream she did, as loud as she could.  
  
When the hospital personel arrived, alerted by the horible cries   
of their young patient, it was too late; both Alice and the talking  
cat were gone.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 42  
  
THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM  
  
  
Sailor Mars' nearly unbreakable force of will had fought the battle   
of a lifetime, going one on one against that of the grandmaster in   
the arts of darkness, the evil Black Baron. This was one fight she   
couldn`t win, and lose she did. The Mars Flame Sniper she just   
unleashed aimed right at the Emerald Knight`s heart.  
  
"WATCH OUT!!!" screamed Umino when he realized that Mars was taking  
aim at her ally against her will. Seeing he was the only one able   
to do anything in this dire situation, he acted on gut instinct;   
he picked up a small aluminum asthray on the cafeteria table right   
next to his laptop and threw it like a shuriken in the direction of   
the flaming projectile just as her caster let it loose upon her   
target.  
  
The spinning lightweight disc made contact in midair, melting   
instantly on contact- but this unforseen obstacle deviated the   
flame arrow just enough so that its aim was thrown out of whack.  
Not quite enough to avoid the young warrior`s body, however. It   
ripped through the arm`s green colored plating like cissors through  
paper, burning him severely on his left forearm as he used his   
own body to shield the unconscious Laurella.  
  
While Sailor Mars collapsed unconscious, Black Baron extended his   
hand towards the fallen warrior of fire whose soul tore apart at   
the seams, her dark splinter materializing in the air above her   
head and flying to the shadow being who grabbed it greedily. With  
a laugh that chilled the hearts of those still conscious, he   
vanished into the night.  
  
"You`re hurt!" said Umino to Shingo, still in shock about this   
entire situation.  
  
"I know..." replied the Emerald Knight, wincing as his arm hurt   
beyond belief. "Help me get Mars and Jendra to the messiah and   
Sailor Moon, they need healing more than I do."  
  
Unknown to any of them, the entire scene had a single outside   
witness. Standing on the outside of the mall and peering through   
the second story window, the catwoman youma called Cathra had seen   
everything from the moment Black Baron had appeared to Umino and   
Laurella. She was still staring at the young fighters scrambling   
to get their allies to safety and treatment, shocked at what she   
just saw.   
  
At this point, Cathra faced a very interesting option... she had   
some information that was vital to Fneris, but it was Crystallite  
who had the magical powers to verify the veracity of her witness   
account, and the manwolf had been adamant on keeping his mistress   
out of this particular assignment. She was in a position of   
control... of power... this was going to be good!  
  
"Finally I can get back at that self-righteous wolf and grab some   
power to myself in the process... not too shabby!" she thought.  
  
She left the vicinity with her information, going over it to see   
what she would tell Fenris and what she would keep to herself.   
  
* * *  
  
The blighted one felt that his dark master had succeeded in his   
objective, and that as such his vile existence`s goal had been   
fulfilled. Only one thing remained for him to do: kill as much of   
his master`s enemies as he possibly could before escaping.  
  
The dancing shadows that formed a thick wall around Sailor Mercury   
agitated themselves further, each one of the evil animated images   
slashing furiously to try and stab the senshi of ice as well as   
those three strange warriors who had just joined her after tearing   
through the ranks of leaping shadows with their special attacks.  
  
Dressed in skimpy black leather, they all wore a symbol of a winged   
star on their top, representing them well.  
  
With four warriors unleashing blast after blast among the ranks of  
darkness, the two sides were now of almost identical strength,   
although the blighted one seemed to have a nearly unlimited   
regenerative capacity. For every dark image they took down, two   
new ones sprung up almost immediately.  
  
"Is there anything we can do to stop that thing?!?" asked Star   
Fighter.  
  
"Or at least slow it down!!!" added Star Healer.  
  
Sailor Mercury heard the comments of her unexpected allies and tried  
to identify any detail about this fiendish opponent that could give  
them any possible advantage, small as it may be. She then   
remembered something she heard the blighted one say in the first   
part of their battle before he began this sinister dance of shadows.  
  
"Cover me, I think I know how we can beat this thing!" urged   
Mercury, pointing to a nearby photoshop front display. "I`ll need   
all the firepower you can give me to make it through their ranks!"  
  
The three Starlights were intrigued about her plan, so they went   
along with it.  
  
"STAR SIRIUS LASER!"  
  
"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!"  
  
"STAR GENTLE YUTRACE!"  
  
The three blasts impacted in a single focal point, blasting a clear  
opening through the thick wall of knife-wielding monstrosities   
which Mercury ran through. The force of the blast also shattered   
the glass of the photoshop display, activating the alarm system at   
the same time as it allowed Mercury to pick up a polaroid camera on  
display for the walking-by customers to see. Turning around in a   
determined movement, she began taking pictures of her many   
opponents.  
  
The brutal bursts of light from the flash carved through the   
dozens of blighted one black images with disconcerting facility.  
The only one left, the real one, curled himself in his long ample  
clothes to hide his reptilian features from the camera lens.  
  
"DON`T LOOK AT ME! I FORBID YOU!!!" he screamed with an inhuman   
voice.  
  
Trying to run away aimlessly, he quickly found himself in front of   
the charming warrior Sailor Star Healer holding a second polaroid   
who was snapping several photos of his hideous face, each one   
announced gloriously by an eye tearing flash of blinding white light.  
  
"You look fabulous in this light, blighty baby!!!" mocked Healer,   
waving in his face the many photos she took of him, every single   
one slowly revealing his warped features.  
  
"GIVE THOSE TO ME!!!" he screamed, slashing his knives quickly at   
Healer and slicing up nothing more than a couple of pictures she   
was holding.  
  
"Over here, fiend!" yelled Star Maker, taking still more instant   
pictures of the twisted creature that was the blighted one. Seeing  
the picture trio move in, he tried to flee, but found himself   
surrounded by his enemies as Star Fighter closed the perimeter   
with a fourth camera, a high performance professional model which   
took several pictures every second with the help of a powerful   
electric handheld flash that blazed light like a machine gun.  
  
"Oh yeah, give me some skin, darling, work with me!" taunted Seiya   
to the blighted one who was now petrified by his deadly phobia of   
being seen by others. "Make love to the camera!!!"  
  
Screaming, the foul beast fell down in a defensive position trying   
desperately to hide his face. With the three Starlights still   
taking dozens of pictures of him, Mercury relented in her   
photographic barrage to deliver the final blow. She hated this   
vile monster, and knew he could endure almost anything and rise   
from it again, so she felt she needed something... special.  
  
Summoning all her inner strength, she resurrected the ancestral   
memory of planet Mercury in an arcane technique not seen in this   
world since times immemorial. Water and ice danced around her  
hands as she used her energies to create a small harp in her hands  
from which hypnotizing music arose, weaving the elemental forces   
of the young senshi in a blast unmatched in power save for the   
unequalled might of her ultimate attack. Without doubt, regret   
or mercy, she released it on the cowering monster.  
  
"MERCURY... AQUA... RHAPSODY!!!"  
  
The blazing attack struck the body of the blighted one, crushing it  
instantly in its unforgiving fist of cold death and squeezing it   
empty of its dark spark of life. The now useless corpse   
disintegrated in seconds to leave but a little dust behind.  
  
"That takes care of that..." commented Maker.  
  
"Hey, we even have all these cool pictures of... YEOOOOW!!!" said   
Fighter, picking up a few of the polaroid photos that laid on the   
ground but releasing them immediately as they combusted into flame   
without warning and shared the blighted one`s final fate.  
  
"So much for that..." concluded Healer. In a flash, the three   
mysterious senshi leaped back unto the balcony they had jumped   
down from and made their way out through an open ceiling window.  
  
"HEY! WAIT UP!" yelled Sailor Mercury. She had questions, and she   
wanted them answered!   
  
Gathering all her remaining strength, Mercury leaped her way out the  
same way the Starlights had and followed them outside, trying not   
to lose them. Hopping over rooftops and across the spaces separating  
buildings like in the anime tapes her friend Usagi loved so much,   
she was really starting to ger short-winded. "This is so tiring...   
how do the others do it so easily? I must start going to the gym   
more often!" she thought.  
  
* * *  
  
In the darkness of her bedroom, Crystallite woke up from a bad   
dream she couldn`t remember with a splitting headache. She should   
have been used to that by now, she had those only too often just   
as her mother Beryl did. She felt the massive shape of her devoted   
bodyguard and lover Fenris stir beside her, the dark black shape   
of the hulking manwolf shaking the bed as he woke up at the same   
time.  
  
"What`s going on, mistress?" growled the low voice of Fenris.  
  
"He`s almost here again." said Crystallite, holding her head in   
her hands.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I can feel him approaching. His presence has been getting more and   
more tangible to me since I started collecting the dark splinters   
and assembling them."  
  
"And do they have anything to do with THAT?" asked Fenris, pointing   
outside to the hovering cover of black storm clouds that had   
increased in numbers and thickness over the past few days,  
darkening as Crystallite`s quest went ahead with success.  
  
"Yes. Get dressed, he`ll be here in just a few..."  
  
Before the red-haired girl could complete her sentence, the ominous   
shape of Black Baron forming directly in front of their bed with no  
regards to their privacy. Crystallite hurriedly pulled the sheets   
to cover herself, but wether she was dressed or not mattered little  
to the shadowy being.  
  
"Have you no sense of respect at all?" she snapped at him, but got   
no response. "You got some more already, I take it."  
  
As a reply, he raised his hand and produced two jagged pieces of   
sharp black crystal, the dark splinters of Sailor Mars and Jendra.   
The pieces flew to Crystallite`s hand who caught them easily.  
  
"I suppose you`ll want to see the cards again, to choose another   
target." she said.  
  
"No." echoed the unfocused voice of Black Baron.  
  
"What? Aren`t you going to get the other ones?" replied the young   
girl.  
  
"Not yet." replied Black Baron.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I have my reasons." concluded the shadow, disappearing before   
Crystallite could order him to explain himself.  
  
"COME BACK HERE, WE`RE NOT DONE YET!!!" she screamed into the empty   
space where he stood just seconds earlier. In her burning fit of   
anger, she failed to notice her clutched fist crushing the two   
pieces of crystal in her hand, driving the sharp edges deep into   
her soft flesh. Red drops of blood began to drip from her wounds,   
staining the bedsheets.  
  
"You`re hurt." calmly observed Fenris.  
  
"I can`t stand his smug attitude... his arrogance!" fumed   
Crystallite.  
  
"Let me help you take care of that..." whispered the manwolf,   
carefully opening her closed fist and delicately pulling the shards  
out of her hand. As he wrapped an improvised bandage over her palm   
with a piece of fabric he ripped out of the shirt he left lying on   
the floor next to the bed, Crystallite started to cry.  
  
"What is the matter, my darling?" he asked her.  
  
"Sometimes I feel like I`m losing control, like I`m the one who`s   
being played like a puppet... without you, I don`t think I could   
keep going... I would just give up." she told him, resting her head  
on his shoulder.  
  
"That`s why I`m here, mistress. Whatever you need me to be, I will   
become."  
  
"I know, that`s why I love you so much." said Crystallite while   
Fenris licked a small trickle of blood that ran down her forearm.  
  
* * *  
  
"Is she still following us?" wondered Star Fighter as she landed on   
the rooftop where both her allies had preceeded her. "She`s a lot   
tougher than we gave her credit for."  
  
"Yes, that she certainly is..." half-mindedly agreed Star Maker,   
staring at the rapidly approaching Sailor Mercury.  
  
"We`ll never be able to get the car back if she keeps following us   
like that." observed Star Healer.  
  
"Just leave it to me. Go get the car, I`ll hold her back for a few   
minutes. I`ll meet you back at our place." suggested Maker without   
taking her eyes from Mercury.  
  
The other two nodded and left in a flash, Star Maker remaining   
there to meet with the senshi of ice as she finally caught up with   
her. Landing as gracefully as she could despite her more than   
obvious exhaustion, Sailor Mercury stood up straight to look as   
imposing as her small frame and build would allow her to.  
  
"You fight well." observed Maker while the other senshi was   
catching her breath.  
  
"Thank you... so do you and your friends." replied Mercury.  
  
"You probably wonder who we are and why we`re here." said Maker.   
  
Mercury nodded.   
  
"It was the logical thing to assume. We have been rather obscure   
in our mode of operation, motivations and ultimate goals." added   
the leather-clad senshi.  
  
"Precisely. We know nothing of you or you of us, yet you keep   
showing up in our battles to assist us in defeating our opponents.  
The only proof we have of your good intentions is your saving   
Sailor Saturn from getting crushed under a subway car." said   
Mercury. "I`d like to thank you for rescuing my friend... it means  
a lot to us all." she told her with a smile.  
  
"I gracefully accept your thanks on behalf of myself and my sisters   
Star Healer and Star Fighter, they will be happy to know we have   
earned your gratitude."  
  
"Saturn has mentionned her savior Star Healer already, and you say   
your other sister is Star Fighter... but you forgot to mention me   
your own name." observed Mercury.  
  
"That`s true... I am Sailor Star Maker." she said, bowing politely,   
Mercury returning the bow right back.  
  
"May I ask why you`re here?"  
  
"We seek to quelch the darkness which our princess has foreseen   
in a vision, a terror the likes of which would surely destroy our   
planet as well as yours if left unchecked. She preceeded us to   
this planet by a few months, disguising her appearance to blend   
in your society and find out more about this threat. We followed   
her, assuming disguises as well to conceal our true identity   
from the monster Black Baron whom we know is here, working for   
the great darkness to come." she explained.  
  
"But what about the senshi of this system? Can`t we defeat this evil  
by ourselves, like we always have? We`ve faced more evil fiends than  
I care to remember, and you never came to help us before!" argued   
Mercury.  
  
"True... but our princess never had visions of every single one of   
you being defeated before." replied Maker, looking down almost   
ashamed of revealing this information to the horrified Sailor   
Mercury.  
  
"Is there anything we can do?"  
  
"The best we can, that`s all there is I`m afraid."  
  
"How can we contact you if we need you again?" wondered Mercury.  
  
"Don`t worry- if you need us, we`ll be there." concluded Maker,   
taking a long deep look into the eyes of the determined senshi. She   
saw there a glint of intelligence she rarely ever saw in anyone   
save her own reflection in a mirror. Maker liked what she saw. "We   
would never let anything happen to any of you, you have my word on   
this." she said before leaving the rooftop in a single superhuman   
leap that left the now lonely Ami to wonder how anyone can manage   
to jump so high with no apparent effort.  
  
"I believe you..." whispered Ami into the wind, staring at the sky   
to the last point where she saw Star Maker vanish into the night,   
a smile forming on her lips.  
  
* * *  
  
Third time in one night she had healed a bleeding soul, in addition   
to mending some bruises, cuts, and fixing Robin`s broken leg better   
than new. Littke wonder the messiah was feeling tired after so much   
use of her powers who were quite limited despite their great   
possibilities.  
  
"Forgive me if I can`t fix your arm, Shingo..." said Naru through   
a foggy haze through which the whole world seemed to be in slow   
motion. "I just can`t do anymore tonight."  
  
"Think nothing more of it, Naru, Umino saved my life by deflecting   
the shot." replied Shingo, looking at the heroic computer geek who   
had done more courageous acts in one night than most of the guys   
who mocked him ever would in their entire lifetime.  
  
"Don`t even mention it. This is nothing compared to what you guys do  
every day." said Umino, sitting next to Naru on the Tsukino`s living  
room couch and hugging his girlfriend as she dozed off on his   
shoulder.  
  
"You`re a brave soul, Umino, don`t ever let anyone tell you   
otherwise." replied the young knight.  
  
"How`s your arm doing, sweetie?" asked Ikuko to her son, worried   
sick about his health as the loving mother she was always did.  
  
"It`s just a second degree burn, mom, my armor itself did the   
damage when it melted. If Umino hadn`t thrown that aluminum   
ashtray, Rei`s shot would have killed me for sure." said Shingo   
who immediately wished he hadn`t mentionned the dying instantly   
part... now Ikuko would go into overprotective mother hen mode   
for at least a week.  
  
"Oh my god!!! My little boy almost died! I can`t believe I nearly   
lost you..." she said, tears forming into her eyes while she triple   
checked the well made bandage around his burned arm.  
  
"So how are Rei and Laurella doing?" inquired Shingo, trying to   
change subjects. He got his answer from Usagi and Usako as they   
came down the stairs.  
  
"They`re both sleeping right now, but it`s just a reaction to the   
healing process induced by Naru and me." replied Usagi who was just  
as tired as the messiah herself. She barely had the strength to   
hold her crescent moon wand in her fingers, Usako helping her walk  
downstairs.  
  
"I called their mothers already to arrange it so that they think   
their daughters are having a sleepover here tonight. They can stay  
here and rest." added Usako, to Ikuko`s immediate approval.  
  
"I`m worried about their reactions when they wake up. Getting part   
of your soul brutally removed like that is devastating, and this   
trauma is compounded by the fact that they both felt the presence   
of Black Baron through their unique senses, experiencing the full   
magnitude of his vile being. I could feel it myself, and I`m not   
even psychic or empathic!!!" explained Shingo, concerned about   
Rei and Laurella.  
  
At this moment, a loud shriek came from upstairs, scaring   
everyone and waking up Naru instantly from her light sleep.  
  
"REI!" said everyone in unison, rushing upstairs as the shinto   
priestess screamed her head off to try and exorcise the pain in   
her soul. When they arrived to Shingo`s room where she had been  
resting just minutes before, she was throwing things around and   
yelling for all her throat could manage.  
  
"What right did that bastard had to do this to me? To make me do   
this to you???" she asked to Shingo when she saw him in the doorway.  
She had tears running down her face, anger twisting her beautiful   
features into a mask of hatred.  
  
"Calm down, Rei, it`s over now..." he said, trying to calm her down.  
  
"DAMN RIGHT IT`S OVER! I`M THROUGH BEING SAILOR MARS NOW!!!" she   
yelled, demolishing his bedroom in her furious assault.  
  
"Stop please! I`m scared!!!" said a high pitched voice choked in   
fear coming from behind Shingo and Ikuko in the corridor. Stopping  
her raging fit of anger for a second, Rei saw the terrified face   
of the crying Chibi Chibi. Dressed in the cutest little pink   
pyjamas covered in white bunnies, she had obviously been awakened   
by Rei`s vicious rampage.  
  
"Oh... I`m sorry... darling, I didn`t mean..." told her Rei, trying   
to appologize for her acts but failing to find the words. At a loss,  
she just kneeled in front of the pink haired toddler and hugged her  
warmly, crying her pain on her shoulder.  
  
"Rei hurt..." whispered Chibi Chibi.  
  
"Yes, dear... you see, I lost my own child getting my powers...  
powers I was stolen by Black Baron tonight..." she explained.  
  
To everyone else it became clear; by taking away the soul power   
she had attained when she lost her unborn child, Black Baron had   
done her the same harm as if he`d killed her child himself.  
  
"Thank god Chibi Chibi is here..." whispered Usako. "I don`t think  
anyone else could help Rei the way she is now..."  
  
"What`s going on?" came the voice of Laurella from Usako`s room.  
  
"Rei just woke up, she was very hurt inside. There was a lot of pain  
she never expressed that was unleashed tonight, and my bedroom took  
the brunt of the onslaught." explained Shingo as he approached his   
waking girlfriend and sat next to her on Usako`s bed. "I imagine   
her emotions must have woken you up when you felt them."  
  
"No, actually I didn`t feel them." said Laurella.  
  
"You didn`t?"  
  
"I`m not feeling anything right now. All is silent around me."   
said Laurella, her face strangely devoid of any emotions at all.  
  
"But... what about Chibi Chibi`s love? Rei`s pain? Usagi`s concern?   
My love for you, can`t you feel ANY of those?" asked Shingo,   
feeling worried about this strange turn of events.  
  
Laurella shook her head. She seemed totally detached regarding the   
situation, showing none of her caring personality in a completely   
uncharacteristic demeanor.  
  
"Oh god, Laurella, what has that monster done to you???" said   
Shingo, crying as he held his now emotionless girlfriend whom he   
felt did not have the slightest reaction to the embrace he gave   
her; Laurella`s passion was gone, so were her sadness, happiness,   
her very hopes and dreams.  
  
She was nothing more than a hollow shell, little more than what   
she once was when she tried to escape her pain through alcohol and   
drugs. Shingo cried for the both of them.  
  
  
To be continued...  
  



	43. Seekings

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
There`s a couple of great writers I`d like to thank for proofreading  
my material and pointing out to me the biggest and most glaring   
errors that slipped past my attention.   
  
Special thanks to Sonya-chan and Commander Galos for helping me   
create new attacks I`ll be more than happy to use.   
  
Thanks to Kenton Cernea, for getting me to write fanfiction in   
the first place and showing us all the possibilities of great   
drama and wacky silliness.  
  
Thanks to Mark Berger, Sailor Star Love and Sailor Mac for giving   
us all some amazing works of Sekkushiaru Roman to make us all   
believe in true love and romance.  
  
Thanks to you all for being such good friends.  
  
* * *  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
In the deep reaches of the outer rings of the solar system, planet   
Saturn gloriously spun around the sun in a slow orbit, gracing the   
vast emptyness of space with the incomparable beauty of its immense   
rings of ice fragments. Millions upon millions of these chunks   
floated freely in a large merry-go-round of stellar proportions,   
turning around the huge planet in the same way they had been doing   
for billions of years.  
  
Amidst these ice pieces were some more recent additions, large   
amounts of twisted metal that had been left over from the untimely   
explosion of Saturn Station Beta after the fateful confrontation   
between the enigmatic Gallagher, the conniving Prime and the   
courageous pretty soldier Sailor Moon.  
  
One of those pieces in particular had played a critical part in   
the final showdown, a black metal sword so ancient that its history  
outdated that of humanity with very little uncertainty. Gallagher`s   
pride, the Prime`s ultimate bane, the legendary sword Heresy... now   
a mere hunk of space junk, a worthless piece of star trash, vulgar   
stellar floatsam...  
  
While the sword followed its stable orbit among the ice fragments,   
a lone figure appeared seemingly from nowhere. Its speed was so   
great that to a casual observer it might have seemed like   
teleportation, although to her it was no such thing, the great   
distances she`d crossed had indeed taken some time to span.  
  
The gigantic shadow of the planet kept both her and the sword in   
total darkness, but her keen senses guided her easily to what she   
sought.  
  
"There you are, little one!" she thought. She would have loved   
saying that out loud as she simply adored the sound of her own   
voice, but the void of space made it impossible for any sound to   
travel.  
  
She picked up the forsaken weapon in her hands and felt its   
phenomenal power rushing through her arms. It was so strong that   
it was painful to even a hardened warrior like herself.  
  
"I`m glad I found you, boss lady was getting pretty ticked off   
about getting her hands on you, and she can get... convincing in   
her arguments. You`ll score me some big points on the likability   
scale with her, Heresy baby!" thought the woman hidden in shadows   
just as her location left the dark side of Saturn to enter the   
sunlit side of the ring-clad behemoth.  
  
Had any astronomers been pointing their most powerful telescospes to  
the far side of the rings of Saturn for that brief instant, they   
might have seen the silhouette of a woman dressed in a tight, dark   
red suit whose wild long mane of deep red hair and long furry tail   
could only be described as "foxy". How she could stay out there   
without any survival equipment would have been a matter of some   
debate, but no one was looking in her direction at the time.  
  
In a flash, she was gone. And so was the sword.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 43  
  
SEEKINGS  
  
  
"I was afraid something like this would happen." said Ami to Shingo   
while he cooked breakfast for himself and his friend.  
  
"You have more knowledge in psychology than any of us, Ami... any   
insight you might have in this situation will be helpful." he said,   
wondering what she meant.  
  
"You see, being in contact with the pure evil of Black Baron has   
been a great ordeal for both Rei and Laurella, overwhelming their   
minds and spirits with more darkness than they could possibly   
handle. When they reached their limit, they both reacted   
differently. Rei lashed out mindlessly, liberating every ounce   
of bottled-up anger she had regardless of whom she hurt doing  
that. We can only be glad she loved Chibi Chibi enough to realize   
what she was doing."  
  
"And Laurella?"  
  
"Laurella had the opposite reaction- she resisted the onslaught by   
refusing to absorb any more, shutting down her empathy and emotions   
completely, like the eyes protect themselves from bright flashes by   
going temporarily blind." explained Ami.  
  
"And this... blindness... how temporary is it?"  
  
"I really don`t know how long it will last..." answered Ami, looking  
away from his eyes so he couldn`t see in them that she wasn`t even   
sure if Laurella`s condition would ever revert itself and return her  
emotions the way they were before. She wouldn`t keep this   
information to herself, of course, but Shingo just wasn`t ready to   
hear this yet.  
  
"Hiya guys..." came the stereo voices of Usagi and Usako, both   
sporting the same sleepy eyes and wild morning hair. They sat   
down at the kitchen table, both hungry and in need of a coffee  
to kick start their day.  
  
"I hope you didn`t mind leaving your bed to Rei, Usagi... she   
really needed this night sleep to help her get better." said Ami.  
  
"I didn`t mind the sleeping bag, don`t worry, I`m used to that."   
said Usagi, a smile on her face. "When I woke up this morning,   
she was sleeping cuddled to Chibi Chibi. It`s a miracle this   
little angel is here with us... whoever she is."  
  
"I`m not sure wether she is my daughter or not... but if she is,   
then I am proud of being her mother." added Usako.  
  
"Who do you think is the father? Could it be... that cute singer   
Seiya?!?" asked Usagi, fishing for a reaction from her future   
daughter.  
  
"DON`T EVEN SAY THAT! Seiya`s a jerk who doesn`t know what name to   
call me!" protested Usako, pouting. Shingo and Ami giggled at this   
scene. Quickly diverting the focus of conversation, Usako turned   
to her uncle. "So how`s Laurella this morning?"  
  
"She`s... still sleeping." said Shingo, trying hard not to show   
his emotions. It was to no avail, however, as all his friends   
knew how concerned he was for his girlfriend, having slept all   
night besides his bed where she rested peacefully, enjoying the   
unexpected emotional silence she was experiencing.  
  
"We all hope she`ll get better soon." said Usagi, her sisterly   
love glowing in her eyes.  
  
Shingo smiled back, but suddenly his tears couldn`t be held back.   
He just started crying in his hands again, the three girls hugging  
him in a show of support.  
  
* * *  
  
The sun was slowly creeping up the winter sky, barely showing itself  
through the thin layer of shapeless clouds, announcing once again an  
unseasonable warmth that had been so welcome since the fall of   
Aebonite and the restoration of the natural balance of energy,   
greatly overcompensated in the Japan area that had been hit first   
and hardest by the drain.  
  
On this comfortably cool morning, Kino Makoto was making her way to   
her friend Usagi`s place, her metal crutches clanking on the   
sidewalk as she took quick steps regardless of her current   
condition. She was healing rapidly, though, as her ever   
accelerating pace was proving. It would only be a matter of time   
now until she could put those away and walk on her own again,  
although she could already do that in her powered form.  
  
Making her way along the street where Usagi`s house was, she saw a   
black cat hop in front of her, bouncing with great agility to land   
on her shoulder. The cat had a very familiar gold crescent moon on   
her forehead, but it was the only way she could recognize her   
because Makoto had never seen Luna looking so much like an alleycat,  
her fur totally messed up and covered in dirt and filth.  
  
"Luna?!? Where were you, it`s been days!!!" said Makoto, astonished   
to see the cat return after her extended disappearance act.  
  
"Looking for Artemis, with no success." responded Luna with a glum   
expression. "It`s like he vanished from the surface of the earth."  
  
"You need a bath, Luna..." replied Makoto, smelling the   
undescribable odor coming from her feline friend. It ressembled a   
mix of rotting fish, raw sewage, old garbage and other things best   
left unidentified.  
  
"Just get me home, please..." pleaded Luna. Makoto quickened her   
pace, prefering not to press the matter until she could get the   
cat to meet with Usagi who could certainly get the exhausted feline  
to open up more.  
  
* * *  
  
Opening her eyes, Chibi Chibi yawned and cuddled herself to Rei who   
was still deeply asleep. She had gone through a terrible ordeal,   
reexperiencing all the pain she suffered in the past few years in   
a single outburst of self-destructive guilt, but the little one   
wouldn`t let her suffer.  
  
She had a knack for healing those kinds of wounds, and her presence   
alone was helping out the young soul of fire.  
  
"Hungry..." thought Chibi Chibi as her stomach grumbled. She hadn`t   
eaten since the evening before, and could sure go for some breakfast  
right about now.  
  
"Hello again, my littlest friend." said a voice near her. She   
strained her eyes and saw a silhouette hidden in the semidarkness   
of the bedroom. It was of average height, although its exact shape   
was cleverly conceiled in an intricately woven japanese male kimono.  
The features of this being were also hidden, but not from the actual  
darkness, rather from its very nature which seemed to not be   
entirely capable of interracting with light in a strange way.  
  
Chibi Chibi smiled.  
  
"You came!" she said, giggling.  
  
"Of course. I wish to offer my help if the need arises... will my   
assistance be required in the battle to come?" asked the being in a   
soft, soothing voice.  
  
"Dunno." replied the toddler.  
  
"Very well... but keep in mind I cannot stay here very long. I will   
have to return to my home soon, and it will take time before I can   
return."  
  
"Understood." said Chibi Chibi, blowing a kiss to the strange   
presence which then vanished.  
  
Chibi Chibi slipped out of Rei`s arms and ran downstairs for breakfast.  
  
* * *  
  
Slipping the key in the lock to her appartment`s door, Cathra   
wondered how she could use her knowledge to get ahead in the power   
game she found herself trapped into. She entered the place which was  
decorated in a very bold style contrasting both a romantic feel with  
a nearly heartless efficiency in the positioning of the many pieces   
of leather furniture.  
  
In short, it reflected her perfectly.  
  
As she crossed th esurface of the living room, she removed her   
clothes and dropped them all over the place in a careless manner.   
She didn`t mind they would get wrinkled, her dry cleaner would be   
doing the ironing anyhow. Looking at her naked body with perfect   
skin in the mirror, she dropped her final piece of "clothing", her   
human disguise. Alone in her home, she had no need for it. Her   
entire body covered with short auburn fur, her ears grew long and   
pointy, a long and agile tail uncurled itself from her coccyx and   
her eyes became feline in appearance.  
  
"This is more like it!" she purred, looking at herself. "Thorelia   
outdid herself when she made me... I`m a living work of art!!!"  
  
She detached herself from the mirror with great difficulty, going to  
her bed and curling up in the red satin sheets she hadn`t even   
bothered to pull up before she left the night before. Cathra knew   
what two of the senshi looked like even if she ignored their names.  
She could recognize them on the street if she saw them... she   
witheld that one piece of information from Fenris when she   
explained him what she saw at the mall.  
  
"How am I going to play these fools against one another? There`s   
got to be a way!" she thought, feeling her eyelids grow heavy. She  
fell asleep, hoping she would find a way to get ahead... and soon.  
  
* * *  
  
"I`m glad you came back, Luna, we missed you." said Usagi as she   
vigorously rubbed Luna`s fur with a flower smelling shampoo to get   
her clean.  
  
"I`m sorry I was gone so long, Usagi... I just got emotional when   
Artemis disappeared... it`s just that... I... well..."  
  
"Hush, Luna, no need for words. We`ve known each other for over   
three years now, I know how you feel about Artemis. These things I   
can feel even without Laurella`s empathy or Rei`s psychic senses."  
  
Luna wanted to protest, try and deny her feelings for this cat she   
had so often called a flea ridden alleycat, but she knew all too   
well Usagi saw right through her, that she had been putting up   
this attitude as a shield to protect herself from her own emotions.  
She loved Artemis, she always had.  
  
And now, she might not even get a chance to say it to him as he   
might be dead already. This thought made Luna want to cry, but she   
fought against this sinister idea and pushed it away. He just HAD   
to be SOMEWHERE... she was going to find him.  
  
"While you were gone, it`s been hell on earth for all of us." said   
Usagi, her voice turning glum all of a sudden.  
  
"So Makoto told me. This Black Baron, he sounds... familiar somehow.  
I know I heard about him somehow, but I`ll be damned if I can   
remember under what circumstances."  
  
"Swiss cheese memory acting up again, huh?"  
  
"Like you always say... kitty`s going senile." joked Luna. Usagi   
giggled and rubbed Luna`s nose, covering it in soap suds. The black  
cat couldn`t help but laugh along, feeling relieved from being with  
her best friend and rid of this horrible stench she picked up over   
the last few days. "I missed you, Usagi."  
  
"Now Luna... I know that you care for Artemis, but so do we...   
promise me you`ll never go away from us without staying in touch,   
okay?"  
  
"Okay, Usagi, I promise..." said the cat.  
  
Usagi turned on the shower head dangling down in the tub and turned   
on the water, rinsing off the now dignified cat who had been a   
counselor of Queen Serenity herself.  
  
"Thank you, I needed that." added Luna.  
  
"My pleasure. Let`s get you dry now, Chibi Chibi wants to pet you   
and is waiting for you to be clean again."  
  
Luna shivered in anticipation of the little pink haired girl`s   
wonderfully agile fingers. She was too proud to succumb to her   
feline urges in most situations, but this girl had a way of   
melting off all her defenses.  
  
"I`ll try and endure while she pets me. I have to make her feel   
good, you know." said Luna, pretending not to be one to lose   
control.  
  
"Uh huh. Self-sacrifice, right. Aren`t you the noble one..."   
replied Usagi with a smirk.  
  
"Luna, your meal`s ready. I got you some salmon, I know you love   
that!" said Ikuko as she got in the bathroom with a large towel.  
  
"Thank you, Ikuko, you`re so nice... I just love salmon."  
  
"Any particular reason?" wondered Usagi.  
  
"Yes, actually... it reminds me of my grandfather. Only thing he   
would eat aside from the nutritive generic designed for feline   
health. He said that nothing could provide protein and vitamins   
his body required like that cat food, but one whiff of fresh   
salmon sent him to heaven. I miss him."  
  
"What happened? Died when Beryl attacked?" asked Usagi.  
  
"No... he was on an orbital station in Jendra`s outer orbit when   
it was destroyed. His body was never found." said Luna, a tear   
rolling down her cheek.  
  
"We all had losses, I guess... I never realized you suffered just   
as much as the rest of us." said Usagi as she dried off her friend.  
  
"He took care of me when my father Horus died..." she said.  
  
"Horus? Like the egyptian god?" wondered Ikuko.  
  
"He was jendrean. The son of Isis and Osiris, two jendrean cats.   
They are the ones who left such an impression on the egyptian   
people that they deified cats and named their gods after them."   
explained Luna.  
  
"So your dad was jendrean... what about your mom?" asked Usagi.  
  
"She was called Diane. A lunar cat, I inherited the golden moon   
crescent from her rather than father`s silver ankh. She died when   
I was still a little kitten." said Luna.  
  
"This is a side of you I never knew, Luna." said Usagi.  
  
"We still have both a lot to learn about each other." agreed Luna.  
  
* * *  
  
Fenris could feel a great darkness looming above the poldzer   
triangle, and despite his getting used to this sort of feeling ever   
since he`d first walked into the Dark Kingdom years before. Black   
clouds swirled atop the plaza like an ominous omen of apocalypse,   
and the manwolf feared that not even Crystallite knew entirely what  
she was doing.  
  
"Are you sure this is what you were meant to do, my love?" said   
Fenris as he stared outside their top floor penthouse windows at   
the dreadful sight.  
  
"Quite sure. This is the way to follow for the Dark Empire, my   
wolf. I had yet another vision about it last night in my sleep."   
she replied.  
  
"This Black Baron is dangerous, my lady, I don`t trust him."  
  
"So you keep saying, but doesn`t he succeed in bringing us the dark   
splinters to rebuild our black crystal?" said Crystallite, showing   
the half-complete arrangement of jagged edges.  
  
"And once complete, what does it do?"  
  
"It unleashes the ultimate power of darkness. Mother failed in her   
bid to conquer all and bind all in darkness, but I will not!" swore   
Crystallite.  
  
As she showed the crystal to her manwolf lover and protector, her   
wounded hand resumed bleeding, the deep cuts she inflicted herself  
in anger having not closer themselves properly yet. Her blood   
trickled down her fingers and stained her long flowing hooded dress.  
  
"This is really bugging me..." she commented, seeing these   
injuries as a minor annoyance.  
  
"Here, let me change the bandage." said Fenris, as he removed the   
blood soaked piece of fabric he used the night before to stop the   
bleeding and replacing it with a thick piece of gauze to make a   
much better bandage this time.  
  
"No one ever cared for me the way you do, Fenris. Not my mother, not  
my husband." she said with a long sigh.  
  
"I knew your mother was busy with military planning and conquest,   
but... your husband? Didn`t he love you at all?" wondered the   
manwolf.  
  
"You know I would have always slept alone if it hadn`t been for you.  
Of course he cared... but he never really LOVED me, not in the way   
you do. I`m not sure if he really loved anyone... except maybe that   
Malachite Warlord, he spoke to me of him rather fondly, but I   
might be wrong. Hiding his true feelings always was a strong point  
of his."  
  
"So if there was no love... why marriage?"  
  
"Ours was a marriage of convenience, to seal a political alliance   
between Beryl and her two generals Kunzite and Zoisite. From the   
time I was three I was bethroted to him, and I was married to him   
at the age of twelve. He always respected me deeply, was concerned   
for me in every way, but he never... touched me, honored me in   
the way a husband would show his love for his wife." she explained   
while the manwolf completed the bandage around her wounded right   
hand.  
  
"And because of me, your body is too weak to ever let you experience  
that." appologized Fenris.  
  
"Don`t be sad, my wolf, sleeping cuddled to your warm body is all   
that I need from you. All I could ever ask..." she said, hugging   
him and leaning her head on his chest while she felt the powerful   
black crystal slowly building up in strength in her left hand.  
  
"I`ll take this world and put it at your feet, my love." thought   
the red haired teenage girl, feeling protected from the emanations   
of despair she felt hovering around her, like spectral vultures   
awaiting their next meal of disease, death and destruction.  
  
* * *  
  
They all sat down at in the Tsukino home`s living room, the last   
remaining senshi who still had their dark splinters and thus use of   
their powers: Sailor Moon, Mercury, Terra, Jupiter, Saturn and   
Pluto. Along with them were their allies in arms Mamoru, Umino and   
Naru, as well as the mysterious little girl who called herself   
Chibi Chibi.  
  
"The situation has worsened by leaps and bounds since yesterday   
as you all know." began saying Usagi, trying not to show her fear.   
"We lost Minako, Laurella and Rei last night, and I`m afraid Black   
Baron will strike again soon at one of us."  
  
"So what`s the plan? Do we just sit around waiting like lambs to   
the slaughter, or do we take command of the situation and strike   
back???" suggested Makoto.  
  
"I have to agree here, I`m not going to wait for my turn to put   
my head on the log." added Robin.  
  
"Does anyone have any idea where to even start?" wondered Luna as   
she hopped on Usagi`s shoulder.  
  
"Before Laurella was attacked last night, we tracked down the source  
of the darkness to the poldzer triangle." mentionned Shingo.  
  
"Is that where Black Baron operates from?" asked Usagi.  
  
"No, she didn`t feel his presence there... residual traces as he   
was there, but only for a brief moment at most. It was something   
else, something she couldn`t identify." he explained.  
  
"I`ll look into the poldzer triangle recent market activities,   
maybe we can find something there." suggested Umino as he fired up   
his upgraded laptop.  
  
"Hey, this is new!" observed Naru.  
  
"Yeah, Ami boosted its power yesterday." he replied.  
  
"Good thinking, Umino. I`ll hack into their mainframe to see if   
there`s anything interesting about the structure of the buildings   
themselves or the internal activities." said Ami as she turned on   
her own laptop and hacked her way in the plaza`s main server.  
  
"Until we find a chink on the armor of our enemy... the only thing   
we can do is wait." said Setsuna.  
  
"I have an idea..." said Usagi. "How about we go out tonight and   
have some fun? Get our minds off all this darkness and recharge our  
spirits for the fights to come?"  
  
"I think you`re right, Usagi. You all need to get yourselves a   
break, and so do the others who have already been hurt by this   
monster." agreed Luna.  
  
"So it`s decided, then... where do we go?" asked Mamoru.  
  
"We`ll just make it up as we go along!" said Naru. Everyone   
thought it was a great idea.  
  
* * *  
  
Epilogue...  
  
  
She walked uneasily, her head spinning and her heart beating so hard  
she thought it would burst out of her chest. Everyone who saw her   
made a detour or changed sidewalk- she was obviously on drugs.  
  
Sukeko was indeed high on some cheap drug she bought on the street,   
she had been a user of chemical substances for quite some time now,   
another lost soul desperate for escape from a life she saw as   
meaningless and without hope. Her once lively brown eyes were now   
dull and dilated in the telltale signs of drug abuse and her hair   
was caressly neglected the attention it required to be the   
beautiful mane it used to be. Not wearing half as much warm   
clothing as she should be in this cold weather, she was perceived   
by most as a lost cause not worth the bother.  
  
Staggering into an empty alley, she collapsed into a pile of   
freshly dumped snow when her legs refused to carry her any further.  
Her whole body ached, her injured mind screamed in pain louder   
than her broken heart or her wounded soul. She had nothing to live   
for anymore, and she didn`t care either way if she just died right   
there. She stayed there, letting the cold winds of the falling   
night numb her skin until she felt nothing at all in her legs and   
arms.  
  
She just wanted the pain to go away, but things wouldn`t turn out   
the way she wanted, just like every other decision she`d ever taken   
in her life. And when a choice would be given to her, she`d make   
the wrong one as usual.  
  
This choice came in the form of a young woman about her age walking   
up to her silently, a white cat sitting on her shoulder. Through   
the alley`s increasing darkness, she barely manage to make out the   
girl`s long and bright red hair to match her strange red leather   
ensemble of jacket, gloves, pants and boots. She also caught a   
glimpse of the cat`s forehead which bore a golden crescent moon.  
  
"This one seems to be in need of help, Chesterfield." said the red   
haired girl.  
  
"She is, Alice, she is." replied the cat. "Give her the second gem."  
  
Alice kneeled next to Sukeko and held her frozen hands in hers to   
try and bring feeling back in them. She smiled to the teenager whose  
drug induced high had faded away and left her down in a miserable   
condition.  
  
"Do you want my friend to help you out? He can give you the strength   
you need to get your life back together!" she whispered in her ear.  
  
"What... what do you... want from... me?" asked Sukeko, only too   
aware that most people who offered her help wanted something in   
return- usually some sleazy sexual favor. In her downtrodden   
condition, she had rarely been in any position to refuse any of   
those deals.  
  
"I only want something you take for granted, something you don`t   
even care about. But we can negotiate the specifics later, I can   
give you a free trial of what I have to offer..." said the white   
cat, using the ominous shadow effects of the shadowy alley to   
make himself look more powerful and imposing. At these words,   
Alice showed her a magnificent blue gem.   
  
"All you have to do is take it." she whispered in her ear.  
  
And take it she did, looking it over in her hand. She liked this   
gem, it glowed from within... it even made her numb hand a little   
warmer. This was good, she thought. And then the gem began to heat   
up seriously, chewing through her palm to carve itself a place in   
her hand. Sukeko wanted to scream with all her might, but her   
throat seemed paralyzed from the pain. She cried a few tears as   
she smelled the pugnant stench of her own charred skin burning   
under the searing heat while both her hair and eyes transformed to   
take the same color blue as the cooled off gem that was now   
imbedded in her right hand.  
  
She looked straight into the red eyes of Alice, wondering what   
had just happened.  
  
"Welcome to the club, friend. Chesterfield is going to help   
return home through the rabbit`s hole." said Alice, removing her   
right glove to show the red gem burned firmly into place in her  
palm. Sukeko stared at the talking cat, unsure what the   
schizophrenic girl had just meant.  
  
"The girl`s got a few wires crossed, but her loyalty is beyond   
reproach." said the cat.  
  
Feeling much better thanks to the energy infusion brought in her   
body from the gem, she got up and picked up the cat in her arms,   
caressing him softly.  
  
"Thank you, Chesterfield, you`re the only one who ever gave me a   
chance to prove myself like that." she said, thanking her   
mysterious benefactor.  
  
"As I said, the girl`s not entirely there. My name`s not   
Chesterfield." replied the cat.  
  
"What is it then?" wondered his new blue haired acolyte.  
  
"That`s not important for now. I have other a few more details   
to work out tonight, and I`ll need your help to finalize them."   
said the cat. The trio left the scene discreetly, leaving for an   
unknown destination.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	44. Unexpected Opportunities

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
"They were here. I`m picking up residual energy traces that match   
the prism gem`s harmonics." said the tall man with the long, wild   
black hair whose color matched his clothes with computer perfect   
precision. His eyes glowed with a faint yellow radiance as he   
scanned the snow pile where the young teenage girl Sukeko had   
been lying mere minutes earlier.  
  
"No need to use your special talents, kid, I can still smell the   
kitten`s odour. The little white one was here, that`s for sure."   
said the black cat sitting upon his shoulder, the silver ankh on   
his forehead glithering in the faint light coming from the   
headlights of cars passing in the nearby street.  
  
"I detect anger in that last comment. Still haven`t forgiven him,   
have you, old cat?" asked the powerful looking man, his eyes   
stopping to glow and returning to their jade green color.  
  
"What he`s done is unforgivable. He must pay for his crime... he   
might not have killed himself, or even be implicated in their   
deaths, but he`s an accessory to murder. He played an important part  
in this, so he must be found." said the old cat who grumbled as his   
human companion moved and made him lose his grip on his leather   
overcoat. "Feel free to toss me around, Kurotenshi, it`s not like   
I care wether I`m treated with respect or not."   
  
"I don`t carry around useless luggage, Osiris old friend. You   
should know that by now." said Kurotenshi. The tone of his voice   
implicated that his comment conveyed much more than just the   
litteral meaning.  
  
"I know that. That`s how you survived your own ordeal." replied   
the cat.  
  
Kurotenchi`s eyes glowed again, and the unlikely duo left the   
alley following the energy trace of the lunar cat and his two   
teenage allies.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 44  
  
UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITIES  
  
  
  
"Are you ready to go, Robin? You`ve been trying on clothes for the   
past hour!" complained Haruka as she knocked on her young sister   
senshi`s bedroom door.  
  
"Just another five minutes, I`ve got another one more to try on!"   
came Robin`s voice through the door.  
  
"I swear, this girl spends almost more time dressing herself than   
you and Usagi put together!" complained the blonde tomboy to her   
lover Michiru as she walked by.  
  
"We can`t all look good in a pinstripe suit, darling." replied   
the very feminine woman, rubbing her hand on the shoulders of her   
girlfriend and massaging them softly.  
  
"Still, I wish she`d hurry." grumbled Haruka.  
  
Michiru giggled. It was true that Robin did spend an inordinate   
amount of time choosing her clothes every day, and took more and   
more time as her wardrobe expanded with every new outfit she bought.  
  
"I really like this about you, darling, despite all the beautiful   
dresses you have to chose from you still manage to make your   
selection in no time at all." commented Haruka, gazing at the   
delightful long aqua dress Michiru had put on for their evening   
out.  
  
"I simply follow my intuition. It tells me what will be best for   
the day to come."  
  
"Your intuition has never let us down in the past." added Haruka.  
  
"Especially when it told me you were the one for me..." whispered   
Michiru, leaning in for a kiss. Just as their lips were about to   
touch, Robin`s bedroom door blasted open as the daughter of   
Saturn`s Technum guardian showed her choice of clothes.  
  
"All done!" she said with energy, proudly wearing a red and blue   
Tommy Hilfiger matching outfit.  
  
"Where did you get those? They`re impossible to get here!" asked   
Michiru while Haruka fumed over this kiss she just lost.  
  
"An importation shop just got them from america, the latest lines   
just arrived this week and it just looked SO GOOD!" explained Robin,  
turning around like a runway model in a fashion show.  
  
"It`ll do just great for tonight." said Haruka between her clenched  
teeth, calming down. She was looking into the sweet Michiru`s   
sparkling eyes and knew that her lover would make it up to her later.  
  
* * *  
  
"Well, it`s been a full day and nobody`s been attacked yet. I`d say   
that qualifies as a reason to go out and have a good time." said   
Makoto to Usagi as she and Mamoru picked her up at her place. She   
got in more or less easily and relaxed her still unsure legs and   
relaxed herself into the back seat.  
  
"It certainly does." agreed Usagi. "Now let`s go pick up Rei. She`s  
waiting for us."  
  
"Where`s Usako?" wondered Makoto.  
  
"She`ll be joining us at the restaurant with Chibi Chibi." said   
Mamoru.   
  
"Wonderful! The senshi will be together again... or what remains of   
us anyway." replied Makoto.  
  
"Don`t worry, we`ll force that Black Baron guy to give our friends   
their powers back... I swear to you all!" said Usagi.  
  
Makoto and Mamoru smiled. The pretty soldier was fired up about the   
battle that would come to them soon enough, and the strenght of her   
resolve would undoubtebly decide the fate of the entire group. Five   
of them had fallen already to Black Baron, the evil being having   
shown the extent of his own powers.  
  
"Are you hungry, my little bunny?" asked Mamoru to Usagi.  
  
"I could eat an entire buffet by myself!" she answered.  
  
"Of course you could!" thought Makoto, grinning to herself. She was   
happy that Mamoru could make her best friend feel so good, and   
could only hope to meet someone just as great herself. "Better   
hurry and pick up Rei... it`s almost seven o'clock, she`ll kill   
us if we get there late!"   
  
"I know something about that, she got on my case over and over   
about that whenever I used to get detention in high school." said   
Usagi to which no one disagreed.  
  
* * *  
  
"So where do we go?" asked Taiki as he turned the key to the Three   
Lights` car and got the engine roaring.  
  
"Anywhere. I don`t care." muttered Yaten whose empathic sense had   
been overwhelmed many times over in the past couple of days. He sat   
down heavily in his seat and leaned his head over on the car window,  
beaming a strong impression of "leave me alone".  
  
"Let`s go to a place where we won`t be bothered too much." suggested  
Seiya. Taiki silently agreed. Taiki thought that it would be best   
if they went to the restaurant owned by the sister of their agent.   
She always made sure that the customers didn`t bother them there,   
and the brothers very much enjoyed the opportunity to have a nice   
evening out without being treated like stars but rather ordinary   
people.  
  
"We`ll get you some relaxation tonight, Yaten, don`t worry." said   
Taiki to his brother.  
  
"Even if it kills us all getting you there!" agreed Seiya.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." grumbled Yaten.  
  
Seiya looked back at his brother sitting right behind Taiki while   
his brainy brother was busy driving them to their favorite night   
spot. He looked at the tortured face of Yaten, his long slender   
face wracked by the weight of all these emotions trust onto him   
whether he wanted to hear them or not. The passing lights of cars   
and neon signs reflected onto his long silver hair, making him look   
even more beautiful than he already was.  
  
"I won`t let you get hurt, Yaten." thought Seiya. He loved him with   
all his heart, although he was too proud to ever let his emotions   
show through. He`d be making fun of him, cracking jokes and having   
some fun at his expense as he always did, but Seiya would never go   
so far as to really hurt Yaten in any way, because this was the   
only way he ever really felt comfortable expressing his feelings.  
  
"Stars, how I envy you two guys..." thought Seiya. He had some   
very strong feelings for another very special person, but he was   
incapable of telling her either. He would repeatedly end up making   
her angry, so he only pushed her away further every time he met   
her.  
  
Taiki must have been a mind reader, because that is precisely what   
he asked him about.  
  
"How many times has it been you met Usako and drove her away   
furious?" he asked.  
  
"Four... no wait, five. Almost forgot that run-in we had at the   
university library." he replied with a long sigh.  
  
"And what do you think about her? Do you still think she could be   
princess Kakyuu?"  
  
"Possibly. She`s smart, has the same hair color, and that perfume   
she wears... sweet cinnamon, just like her. I want to talk to her,   
tell her how I feel, but she just drives me insane. My brain shuts   
down and my heart is in too much of a rush to let me say what I   
want." explained Seiya, sighing loudly at the thought of the   
beautiful Usako.  
  
"Sounds to me like you have... feelings... for her." commented   
Taiki, waiting for a loud protest from Seiya as he always would   
whenever someone insinuated he might be in love with a person he   
couldn`t stand. That strong response never came.  
  
"We`re here." whispered Seiya to Yaten, putting his hand to his   
shoulder to gently wake him up from his healing nap. "We`re going  
to have a bite to eat."  
  
"Thanks, Seiya." whispered Yaten through his sleepy haze. For a   
second, Seiya saw in his eyes the great love that Yaten`s heart   
was capable of giving, but rarely ever showed. As the silver haired   
boy woke up, he quickly drew his shield back up, his traditional   
wall of self protection solidifying around his soul. Yaten had been   
wounded deeply after his parent`s death when he was young, and   
both Taiki and Seiya suspected he might never fully recover from   
that.  
  
They certainly hoped they could reach out and touch his feelings   
one day, but they preferred not to give themselves any false hopes   
they just couldn`t live up to.  
  
* * *  
  
"I feel bored." said Crystallite as she twirled one of Gallagher`s  
cards in her fingers. She was looking through her penthouse`s   
largest window down onto the city which looked alive from all   
the lights and neons.  
  
"Would you like to do something?" asked Fenris, embracing her from   
behind and holding her close.  
  
"I`m tired of being locked up in here... would you take me outside   
for a few hours? I need to change my surroundings." she said.  
  
The manwolf wanted to do anything he could for her, but he found   
himself at a loss.  
  
"But... how can we? Between your body`s frail condition and my   
appearance, we can`t go anywhere without endangering you!" he   
argued.  
  
"I`ve been thinking this over, and I found a solution." replied   
Crystallite with a smile.  
  
"More magic, I take it?"  
  
"Precisely. A little knick knack I made and completed two days   
ago." she said. "Please take me to my nightstand."   
  
The large manwolf held her up all the way to their bedroom where   
he helped her sit on the side of the bed. She slid open her   
nightstand`s drawer and got out a little velvet box. opening it,   
she showed her bodyguard a large silver ring mounted with several   
pieces of black crystal. Fenris took it and noticed there was an   
inscription inside the ring.  
  
To My Only Love  
  
"It`s beautiful." said Fenris.  
  
"And functional as well. Try it on!" she said.  
  
Crystallite took the ring and slid it on his finger, amazed as she   
always was about just how strong his fingers were, yet so very much  
agile. She also loved those marvelous claws of his, short,   
extremely sharp and just as dark as his fur.  
  
"I don`t feel any different." said the manwolf.  
  
"Look in the mirror." said the young red haired girl.  
  
Turning his head around to the full height mirror on the bedroom   
wall, Fenris was shocked to see himself not as a manwolf, but as   
a large, muscular human male with extremely dark skin. An instant   
later, the image returned to what Fenris expected to see there.  
  
"What... what did I see?" he wondered.  
  
"What the weak minded humans will see while you wear this ring...   
that you are just another man and not the big furry wolf I love so   
much. The perfect disguise!"  
  
"Oh thank you, my darling... I love you more than anything, more   
than life itself." whispered Fenris in her ear.  
  
"I`ve never loved anybody else but you, my big wolf." said   
Crystallite, leaning over to put her arms around his shoulders and   
kiss him passionately. Fenris placed his arms around her waist,   
hugging her firmly against his body. The young girl loved to be in   
the tight grip of her wolf protector, she always felt safe there.   
Nothing could hurt her as long as he held her close.  
  
* * *  
  
To say that the senshi needed a break from all the dread in their   
lives would be quite an understatement. Reunited under the roof of  
a small restaurant near Ami`s home, the eleven courageous young   
girls and their allies were celebrating their resolve to face the   
evil of the latest in a long list of powerful and insane enemies.  
  
"How many villains does THIS maniac make?" wondered Usagi,  
thinking out loud a question none of them had really pondered.  
  
"I`m not sure. Do you count only the actual minions, or do the   
youma, cardians, droids and other freaks of nature count here?"   
replied Makoto who emptied her plate of fried rice with great   
appetite.  
  
"Just those who controlled the weird monsters, otherwise we`d be   
counting until next month." she answered.  
  
"I lost count somewhere around the dark moon period." said Rei who   
was holding the cute as a button Chibi Chibi who was wearing a   
darling little ensemble of red overalls with a pink shirt and   
jacket. She was scarfing down food like there was no tomorrow,   
imitating well Usako who was right next to them.  
  
"Enjoying the food, honey?" asked Usako with a smile.  
  
"Yeah! Yummy!" said Chibi Chibi in between two bites.  
  
Making sure nobody outside of her friends saw her, Minako snuck   
some food inside of her carry bag where Luna was hidden.  
  
"Are you alright there?" she asked to the black cat.  
  
"Yes, thank you Minako. I missed being stuffed inside your bag,   
strange as it seems." she said.  
  
Minako smiled and discreetely signaled to Usagi that her guardian   
cat was doing well. Usagi was quite relieved that her old friend   
had finally returned from her prolonged absence, and already she   
was returning to her old habits.  
  
"Next thing you know, she`ll be on your case again regarding your   
homework!" observed Ami.  
  
"Don`t remind me..." simply said Usagi. Maybe having the black cat   
back at home didn`t have only advantages, but this was a small   
sacrifice for having her old friend with her.  
  
Robin was eating her plate silently, looking at Laurella and Shingo   
who sat side by side on the other side of the table in front of   
her. Laurella had said almost nothing so far, giving short yes or   
no answers when spoken to and little more. Her face was still   
devoid of expression or emotion, unlike Shingo who wrestled   
constantly not to let show the inner turmoil that was raging in   
his heart. It was obvious to anyone who knew them that something   
was terribly wrong. She wanted to help, to do something... but she  
knew only Laurella could make her emotions resurface and reopen   
her senses again.  
  
Just as she was about to try and engage conversation with them,   
she heard a ringing sound in her purse: her cellular phone was   
receiving a call. She picked it up and was surprised to hear  
the voice of none other than Kou Yaten, her favorite singer.  
  
"Hello Robin!" said Yaten.  
  
"Whoa, Yaten! How did you get my number?!?"  
  
"A friend of yours gave it to me. Do you remember that we met on   
the street a little while back?!" he asked.  
  
"You bet I do! I only wish we could have had more time to get to   
know one another..."  
  
"We still can. What would you say if we got together and chatted   
for a while?" suggested Yaten.  
  
"I`d love that!" answered Robin. "Where are you calling from?"  
  
"Turn around." replied Yaten. Looking behind her, Robin saw the   
silver haired boy standing only twenty feet away his cellular   
phone in hand. "I guess I was lucky to meet you here tonight!"  
  
Putting the phone back in her purse, Robin leaped out of her chair   
and went straight to him.  
  
"I`ve been waiting to get a chance to really know you!" she said.  
  
"So have I... you`re a very special girl, I can tell."  
  
"Thank you... I love your music, you know."  
  
"I was wondering, Robin... would you like to go out with me   
somewhere?" said Yaten. He wanted to get a chance to know her and   
see if she really could be the woman he was searching for, and a   
date seemed like the best way to get to know this rather eccentric   
girl.  
  
Robin hesitated; she came to this restaurant to be with her friends  
that night, but turning around to them she saw that they were all   
making silent encouragements for her to accept.  
  
"Okay, let`s go!" she replied, leaving with her idol singer.  
  
"I hope it works out for her." whispered Haruka to Michiru.  
  
"Yes, love is something her young soul would gain very much from   
experiencing. She has been feeling lonely lately, especially since  
her father died..." whispered back Michiru.  
  
"How would you like to go see a movie?" asked Yaten to Robin as   
she put on her coat and took him by the arm.  
  
"I`d love to. What are we going to see?" she asked.  
  
"The american high budget of Godzilla is still playing in a theater   
close to here..." suggested Yaten, unsure wether Robin would go for   
this sort of film or not.  
  
"Gozzawhazza?" went Robin, her face striking a look of confusion.  
  
"You never heard of Godzilla? The big mutant lizard who smashes   
buildings???"  
  
Robin shook her head. "Never... but it sounds like a total   
blast!!!"  
  
"You`re in for a treat, you`ll see!"  
  
* * *  
  
"Excuse me..." came a familiar voice calling out to Usako. She   
turned around and saw Seiya standing near the senshi`s table looking  
a little uneasy.  
  
"Oh, it`s you..." said Usako, a little disappointed to see him there.  
  
"I`d like to talk to you, if you don`t mind..." he said, his face   
blushed from shyness.  
  
"You can sit at Robin`s place if you want." said Minako who pointed   
the empty seat.  
  
"Thanks a lot, Minako!" thought Usako sarcastically. She`d try and   
get even for that with her later.  
  
"Hi!" said Chibi Chibi with her usual pep when she saw the young   
idol singer.  
  
"Hello... what`s your name, sweetheart?" asked Seiya, smiling to   
the pink haired toddler sitting on Rei`s lap.  
  
"She`s Chibi Chibi... my daughter!" said Usako with a large smile.   
If this doesn`t drive him away screaming, nothing will, she thought.  
  
"She`s beautiful, just like her mother. She has your eyes, I think,   
Usako." replied Seiya with complete sincerity. This threw Usako off   
as she expected some smart aleck remark on his part.  
  
"Thank you, Seiya... that`s very kind of you to say." she said.  
  
Usako took a moment to look at Seiya, not just glance, but look at   
him carefully. She saw that there was much sensitivity that just   
cried out to be released, but that it was held back for some   
reason. Seiya had more depth than she first thought... she was   
intrigued.  
  
"I want to appologize for those things I said in our previous   
meetings. I never meant to hurt you the way I did... can I offer   
you dessert to show you how sorry I am?" he suggested.  
  
"Well... that might be a good way to start." said Usako, a smile   
returning to her lips.  
  
"Usako-mama, can I have dessert too???" asked Chibi Chibi, her   
little face lighting up in the cutest fashion at the thought of   
sugar.  
  
"Of course darling... that is, if you don`t mind getting her one   
too, Seiya?"  
  
"Certainly, I`d love to get you both something sweet." said Seiya,   
calling the waiter to see the dessert cart.  
  
"Yaaay!" went Chibi Chibi. Usako smiled warmly to Seiya. Maybe   
she could get along with him after all.  
  
* * *  
  
"So how`s your spine doing now?" asked Ami to Makoto as the two   
got up from the table and went to the ladies` room.  
  
"Improving quickly. These healing powers of Naru have helped my   
nerves regenerate faster. She says I`m lucky that my body is   
healing on its own to begin with, otherwise she couldn`t have   
done anything for me." she said. "I barely need these things at   
all." Makoto added, pointing to the metal crutches she used as   
support.  
  
"That`s good to hear. I hopw you can walk by yourelf again real   
soon." said Ami as they got in.  
  
"Say Ami, I wanted to ask... you and Minako... is it really over?   
I mean, any chance you might be getting together again?" asked   
Makoto as she entered one of the stalls while Ami refreshed her   
lipstick, a soft tone of pink that complemented her light   
complexion to perfection.  
  
"No, I`m afraid that during our last meal as a couple, things were   
said... words exchanged... that just can`t be taken back. Minako`s  
temporary personality shift soured things up between us, and   
there`s no coming back from that. I can just be thankful we`re   
still friends." answered Ami, a slight hint of sadness squeezing   
her voice.  
  
"That`s too bad. I know I gave you two a real hard time, but...   
I came to think you were a very sweet couple." said Makoto, coming  
out of the stall and smiling to her friend. She washed her hands,   
pressing on her line of questionning. "Have you noticed anyone...   
interesting lately then???"  
  
Ami blushed. That was all the answer Makoto needed.  
  
"So who is she??? Please, tell me, I won`t tell a soul!" begged   
Makoto.  
  
"I`m not sure what she thinks of me yet. All I can say is... she`s   
a shining star high in the heavens." told her Ami, a large smile   
drawing on her lips.  
  
"Can`t wait to meet her." commented Makoto.  
  
"I think you`ll see her soon. She said she`d be there when I   
needed her." said Ami, feeling a wonderful warmth in her heart   
when she thought of Sailor Star Maker.  
  
The two girls exited the bathroom, heading back down the   
restaurant`s service corridor leading back to the dining room.   
Makoto stopped at a soda vending machine, going through her   
pockets for a couple of 100 yen coins. "You want one? My treat!"   
she said.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"What flavor?"  
  
"Surprise me."  
  
Makoto dropped in the pieces while Ami turned back to join her   
friends at their table, but her way was blocked by a rather large   
boy her own age, or so it seemed. He was wearing a university   
football team jacket and it did not hide his large muscles in any   
way.  
  
"Where are you going, beautiful?" he asked in a very direct   
manner.  
  
"Back to my table." she answered sharply, keeping her body language   
tuned in to "back off" signals.  
  
"What`s your rush? I think you and me could have a really good time   
together." he added, brushing his hair backwards nonchalantly as he  
moved in uncomfortably closer.  
  
"Please let me go through." she said through her clenched teeth,   
backing up a little to preserve her personal space. The large oaf   
pushed on further.  
  
"What`s the matter? I`m not good enough for you? Don`t tell me   
you`re a lesbian!" he said, biting into that last word to make it   
into an insult.  
  
"Yes, I am." she replied defensively. Take that, you macho jerk,   
she thought.  
  
This had the opposite effect. He only came on to her stronger, and   
Ami began to fear he might get violent if he didn`t get what he   
wanted, namely her.  
  
"Maybe you need a REAL man to turn you straight again, honey..."   
he said with a twisted smirk.  
  
About ten feet behind them, the loud noise of a soda machine being   
shaken off its stand made itself clearly heard.  
  
"Leave me alone unless you want to be hurt..." said Ami,   
threatening him openly. "See that tall brunette over there? I`m   
HERS!!!"  
  
The overbearing man looked over Ami`s head and saw Makoto slamming   
her fists violently into the vending machine as she insulted it with  
every ounce of breath she had. "I just gave you money, you stupid   
pile of junk! Give me that second can!!!"  
  
He hesitated a second, thinking she might be bluffing. When the   
machine finally surrendered its precious content, Makoto made her   
way back to Ami with a big expression of triumph on her face.  
  
"I got you cherry, I know you love that one!" said Makoto, handing   
Ami the can. Ami turned to her friend, winking in a very clear   
"Please work with me here" signal.  
  
"Thank you so much dear... I`ll make it up to you later." she said   
to Makoto, leaning over and giving her a quick peck on the cheek.  
Understanding instantly Ami was being bothered by this macho jerk,   
Makoto went along with her plan.  
  
"I can`t wait for that... nobody knows me better than you, darling!"  
she replied, blowing her a kiss. She then looked up at the guy,   
taking an angry air that made her look even larger than she was   
before. "Is that guy BOTHERING you, by any chance? Because I haven`t  
pummeled anyone today just yet!" she said, a bloodlusting glint   
showing in her eyes.  
  
"N... no... I was just... leaving! Yeah, leaving!" he said,   
disappearing in a flash, not to be seen again in this restaurant   
for as long as the owner could remember from that day on.  
  
"Thanks, Makoto." said Ami, thankful for her friend`s timely   
intervention.  
  
"I meant what I said about you understanding me, you know. I feel   
like you`re the sister I never had. All of you are..."   
  
Ami nodded, she knew the feeling. Being a sailor senshi meant   
more than just sharing common enemies, it was a bond of sistership  
with each and every one of the others on the team. It varied with   
every one of the girls, no two bonds being exactly alike one   
another, but every single one boiling down to the same core   
essence: they would gladly give up their lives if it could save   
their sister senshi in the process. This sisterly love was the   
best part of it all, Ami thought, and she knew Makoto agreed.  
  
Just before she got to her table, she noticed that Taiki was sitting  
by himself at a table and quietly reading a philosophy book all by   
himself, both his brothers gone to pursue their own female   
interests. He didn`t seem to mind, but Ami had been wanting to talk  
to him about some work project for her astrophysics class.  
  
"Hello again, Taiki." she said softly as she moved close to him.   
"Do you mind if I join you?"  
  
"Please, sit down! Can I offer you coffee? Michiko makes one great  
capuccino!" he offered, his face lighting up as much as the   
reserved singer ever allowed it to.  
  
"I`d love to, thank you." she answered, taking place in front of   
him.  
  
"Ami, there is a special team project that must be made for next   
month in our astrophysics class... I was thinking it would be nice   
to work together on this." said Taiki, beating her to the punch.  
  
"Are you sure you`re not a mindreader?" she said, giggling.  
  
"My brother Yaten is very intuitive, but I`m nowhere near his   
level. I just thought it would be wonderful to be working with   
someone as intelligent as you, Ami." said Taiki.  
  
"I was going to offer you the same, but since you offer first...   
I accept." replied Ami.  
  
"I have a few ideas, if you`d like to discuss this right now..."   
said Taiki.  
  
"Of course! You`re never to early to work on a school project!"   
agreed Ami. The two of them went on to discuss the various   
theories of Einstein, Hawking and other important figures in  
the study of space and reality.  
  
* * *  
  
"Another one." said the seductive woman has she pushed her empty   
wine glass on the bar, with but a smidgen of crimson color staining   
the bottom of the crystal glass. She brushed her short auburn hair   
with her long fingernails.  
  
"Don`t you think you had enough?" whispered Michiko to her well   
refreshed customer who had been drinking glass after glass of red   
wine that evening.  
  
"I`ll tell you when I had enough." said Cathra. Pulling out a   
thousand yen coin from her purse, she skillfuly flipped it in the   
air, catching it one handed and rolling it down her fingers as she   
would a slinky toy down a flight of stairs, landing the coin   
inside an empty ashtray in front of her. "I can hold my liquor   
better than you imagine, honey." she said with open contempt in   
her voice. Michiko silently filled her glass again and left her   
to sulk alone.  
  
"How the hell am I supposed to pull this off?" she asked herself.   
"Crystallite holds most of the cards and hands them off to Black   
Baron... figuratively and litteraly. How can I manipulate these   
fools into letting their guard down... to stay ahead of both   
their agendas?"  
  
She gulped down the sweet liquid, feeling it go down her throat and   
filling her stomach with the nice rush of alcohol that went along   
with it. This whole thing seemed pointless at times, futile in the   
difficulty involved in tricking several of the most devious   
creatures in the known universe.  
  
Then she turned around. She saw a group of young people she heard   
talk and laugh for over two hours now, never really paying them   
any attention. She loked at them and saw someone she could have   
recognized anywhere- the young girl whom she had seen having her   
dark splinter get torn from her soul, Sailor Jendra. She was right   
there in the same restaurant she was, by a total stroke of luck.   
At the same table, she also saw the other fallen senshi, Sailor   
Mars.  
  
This was without a doubt her chance, the opportunity she had   
been praying for- she wouldn`t miss it. But how to use it   
properly? She smiled... she had an idea.  
  
Laurella was having a nice chat with her friends, her boyfriend   
holding her hand when she noticed a well dressed thirtysomething   
woman running to the exit, mumbling something being late for an   
evening meeting and fumbling with her coat and a glass of red   
wine, which went flying out of her hand as she walked past her.   
The wine splashed Laurella, staining her pure white cotton shirt   
in deep crimson.  
  
"OH I`m SO sorry!" she said, apologizing profusely as she hurriedly   
put on her long wintercoat. "I don`t have any time right now, but   
let me assure you I will refund you ENTIRELY for all the damage I   
just caused... here, call me at this number!" she said, handing   
over a business card to Laurella. Once again saying how sorry she   
was, she ran out of the restaurant.  
  
"I`m sorry, honey, I know how much you liked this shirt..." said   
Shingo.  
  
"Don`t worry, she left me her card." said Laurella in an emotionless  
manner she had turned into her demeanor instead of her usual   
compassionate and caring personality. "She works at..." she started   
to read out loud, but she stopped in stupor.  
  
"What is it, dear?" asked Shingo, looking at the card. "Oh my god...   
Usagi, I think you better look at this!" he said, handing the card   
over to his sister.  
  
There she read the name and address, sending a large smile on her   
face.  
  
Cathryn Neko, senior VP of operations  
Nightwolf corporation  
1, Poldzer Plaza  
office 5907a  
6227-7628  
  
"I think we may have a place to start..." said Usagi, an idea   
forming in her mind.  
  
  
To be continued...  
  



	45. Going from Bad to Worse

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
Cracking bolts of energy surged through the strange instruments,   
combining the many mismatched elements drawn from chemistry,   
bioenginnering and, it was her belief, some basic notions of   
alchemy. Kaolinite had a hard time to grasp every single concept   
which went into the creation of a daemon egg, she wondered all the   
time how professor Tomoe could do this so easily without failure   
or errors.  
  
While the machine activated itself and processed the fluids   
necessary in creating the unholy egg, she looked over the many   
useless eggs she had created in previous attempts, all of them   
useless wastes that would never have the power to animate an   
inorganic host shell.  
  
Her chest hurt terribly again. Had it been four hours already since   
her last dose of pain killers? She pulled the small plastic   
container from her labcoat`s pocket, popping it open and taking a   
couple of the small red gelcaps along with a long swig of whiskey   
to make it go down.  
  
"Oh yeah, that`s the stuff..." she uttered in contentment while   
she felt the hot liquid push the pills down into her stomach. She   
doubled over in pain an instant later, her stomach turning into  
a scorching ball of fire.  
  
"Damn ulcer..." she thought. Tears filled her eyes as the terrible   
suffering chewed through her damaged digestive system.  
  
After a few minutes of suffering, the machines completed the   
drawn out process of producing the long awaited daemon egg. This   
one was a real beauty, its intricate surface patterns traversed by   
constant fluxes of internal energy. It seemed... alive... and it   
most likely was. A faint glow of greenish light surrounded it,   
sending out an aura of vileness.  
  
That was IT. She succeeded! The perfect daemon egg Tomoe had   
theorized was right there in front of her inside the egg producing   
system, the ultimate testimony to her teacher`s undeniable genius.  
  
"I did it... I did it!!!" she whispered, her voice and hands   
trembling in excitement.  
  
Taking the egg in her hands, she could feel its power throbbing in   
her palms. She brought it to her second lab, proud that this night   
would be the turning point of her research. This much larger area   
looked nothing like the other lab, containing not a single glass   
instrument nor any chemistry apparatus. Everywhere there was motors,  
wielding torches, metal plates, compact power sources, more computer   
chips than the mind could imagine and a very large work bench where   
she had placed her latest project, covered under a thick drape to   
protect it until it would be ready to function.  
  
She tugged at the drape, revealing the open mid section of her   
machine where a round receptacle was awaiting the completed daemon   
egg. It accepted it perfectly, glowing even stronger as it bonded   
to the heavy metal frame and made it part of itself in a perfect   
symbiosis.  
  
"Now only a small part of the special programming remains... this   
shouldn`t take more than a few days... at most..." she thought,   
the drugs flowing through her system starting to numb her constant   
pain. She sat at the computer terminal she set up in her workshop,   
calling up the file for this project that had been inspired by one   
of Mimete`s favorite mangas, the "Golgothian Warriors".  
  
On top of her screen appeared the name of her project:  
  
GOLgothian EMulator Machines  
  
On the open panel of her newly completed machine, she had printed   
the abbreviation of this fearsome combat machine:   
  
GOL.EM.M.  
  
"Don`t worry, my little child, you`ll soon be ready to take your   
first step... and enter your first battle... I swear to the stars   
that Ronmar will learn to fear the might of Kaolinite`s GOLEMM!!!"   
she said to her newly animated creature while she punched her   
keyboard furiously to ensure quick completion of his programming.  
  
The time of her vengence was almost at hand.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 45  
  
GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE  
  
  
  
"Okay, here`s what I think we should do..." started Usagi, lowering   
her voice and explaining to her brother and fellow senshi the plan   
she had come up with on the spot. When she realized that the woman   
who had just spilled red wine on Laurella worked at the Poldzer   
Triangle, her mind had just shifted into overdrive, inspired with   
a tactic that Ami would later approve as being insightful and   
daringly brilliant.  
  
Of course, she couldn`t really say anything about it right now,   
seeing how she was so busy talking over a school project with the   
seductive and equally intelligent Kou Taiki, one of the rising   
stars of japanese pop music. At the same time, Usako was having a   
pleasant talk with Taiki`s brother Seiya after she had moved to   
another table to sit alone with him and the cute little girl   
Chibi Chibi. Robin was absent as well, having left with the third   
brother, Yaten, off to see a giant monster movie with him.  
  
"Usako-mama, I`m bored." said Chibi Chibi to Usako who was telling   
Seiya a story from her childhood- of course she was rearranging   
it a little, mostly because this anecdote had happened to her   
merely three months ago, before her soul ascension finally   
unlocked the final maturation process that transformed her into   
a mature woman. Seiya was laughing along, finding Usako to be   
genuinely funny.  
  
"Want to go see auntie Rei, honey?" she asked. Chibi Chibi nodded.   
Usako took the little girl by the hand and led her to Rei who was   
only too happy to have her sit on her lap again.  
  
"Rei!" she said happily, giggling when she saw the raven haired   
girl.  
  
"Hey there, darling!" replied Rei just as cheerfully.  
  
"Can we go out?" asked Chibi Chibi asked, making the saddest puppy   
eyes she could muster. Rei was hard pressed to say no.  
  
"Usako... I`ll take Chibi Chibi for a quick walk outside, okay?"  
  
"Sure, just make sure she wears her coat!" said Usako.  
  
"Okay, see you girls later!" replied Rei. The bouncing little   
toddler jumped up and down at the thougth of going for a walk on   
the streets in the evening.  
  
"You`re full of energy aren`t you?" Rei asked her.  
  
"Chibi Chibi!!!" she said, laughing again.  
  
* * *  
  
The movie theater was almost empty that night with only a few   
couples here and there taking advantage of the darkness of the place  
to make out. There was little noise at all considering the number   
of spectators, but two of them more than made up for that with the   
sheer power of their screams whenever Godzilla smashed a major   
landmark.  
  
"YAAAAY! That is SO MUCH FUN!!!" said Robin, taking a big handful   
of popcorn and scarfing it down hungrily the same way Yaten was.  
  
"I can`t get enough of these things. They`re so exciting!" agreed   
the silver haired idol singer. Although his first intention in   
inviting Robin was to observe her and figure if she really could  
be princess Kakyuu, he had to admit that he enjoyed her company   
very much. She was the only girl- the only person who had the   
same taste in movies he had.  
  
"Is the floor really supposed to be so sticky, though?" wondered   
Robin.  
  
"Of course it has! It`s part of the experience!" assured her Yaten.   
"Same thing as the huge popcorn buckets, movie trailers and   
overpriced candy." he added. Looking at her emerald green eyes, he   
suddenly felt guilty over what he was doing. He was beginning to   
doubt that she might be Kakyuu after spending an extended period of   
time with her, and if she wasn`t her... he`d certainly be hurting   
her feelings. Yaten knew how it felt to be hurt, and had no wish   
to lead her on this way if she wasn`t the woman he was searching   
for.  
  
"Speaking of candy, want some? I bought it on our way in while you   
were arguing with the candy bar clerk over the size of the popcorn   
buckets." she said, opening a small carboard box filled with hard   
candy. A delightful smell of Cinnamon filled the air as she did.  
  
"Want one?" she asked, offering the box.  
  
"Please." he said, taking one and putting it in his mouth, savoring   
the wonderful taste that reminded him vividly of Kakyuu.  
  
"I just love that taste, don`t you?" asked Robin, taking one   
herself.  
  
And there he was caught in hesitation again, unsure wether Robin   
could be his princess in disguise. This was going to be difficult   
to sort out.  
  
"Yaten... why are these other couples not paying attention to the   
movie? It`s a good one, I don`t understand..." she said, pointing   
to a few couples who were kissing and hugging closely.  
  
He blushed. That`s it, this whole thing was getting much more   
involved than he had figured, but he decided to roll with the   
punches.  
  
"They`re kissing... movie theaters are one of the few dark places   
teenagers can go without anyone warning them not to do anything...   
well, 'improper', you might say."  
  
"That looks like fun... I`ve seen a lot of people do that, they   
always seem to like it." said Robin.  
  
"You mean you NEVER kissed anyone?" said Yaten facevaulting in   
surprise that a girl of Robin`s age had not kissed a boy in her   
whole life, not knowing that she was barely six months old   
instead of her apparent seventeen years old.  
  
"No. Is that wrong?"  
  
"Err... no, there`s nothing wrong, I was just surprised."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You`re so cute, I would have thought that guys would swarm   
around you, that`s all." said Yaten who immediately bit his tongue  
for letting that compliment slip out.  
  
Robin blushed, smiling shyly. "Thanks, but I just haven`t met a   
guy I really want to kiss... until now, Yaten." she said, looking   
straight into his green eyes. He felt his heart skip a beat when   
he realized what she meant.  
  
"What... do you mean?" he asked, trying to defuse a situation he   
just wasn`t controlling anymore, but to no avail.  
  
"I`d like you to be the first boy I kiss. I imagine you kissed a lot  
of girls, a handsome guy like yourself, would you show me what   
it`s like?"  
  
Yaten blushed even redder than Robin had.  
  
"Oh. Does that mean that you didn`t... not either..." said Robin,   
caught off guard by the way things were turning out. Yaten shook   
his head, confirming what she suspected.  
  
"I never met the right... person..." he said, gulping nervously.  
  
"Maybe we could... teach each other how to do it?" whispered Robin,   
putting her hand on his. Yaten smiled shyly, placing his other hand  
on Robin`s.  
  
They brought their lips close to each other`s, brushing them   
lightly at first, then applying a small amount of pressure. They   
felt a miniature bolt of lightning go across their mouth, giving   
a new sensation that was both exciting and unique from anything   
they had ever experienced in their lives. Their first clumsy kiss  
soon turned into a more confident exchange, their arms going   
around each other`s body and adding a warm hug to their passionate   
embrace.  
  
Robin slightly jolted in surprise when she felt Yaten`s tongue slip   
out of his mouth into hers, but she found that this only increased   
the pleasure she was feeling. She quickly learned how to join in on   
this, twisting her tongue around his and discovering along with   
Yaten the many variations on the strange and beautiful art of   
kissing. The two of them were into a world of their own now, paying   
no attention to the rampaging green behemoth on the movie screen.  
  
A few rows behind them, another spectator wasn`t paying attention   
to the movie either, busy as she was spying on the two of them.   
Eating a chocolate bar one small bite at a time, she was rather   
pleased with herself. By sending Robin`s picture and cell phone   
number to Yaten, she had effectively pushed her in his arms and   
made sure that she would not return Minako`s affections.  
  
"Minako thinks she can have it all... I`ll show her what I can   
do." thought Rumiko while she stared at the kissing couple in front   
of her. The evil duplicate of Minako whose warped essence had been   
the cause of her violent behavior some weeks before laughed, but   
her laugh was without humor. It was a sadictic glee, one filled   
with hatred directed at her template whose life she had sworn   
herself to tear into shreds.  
  
* * *  
  
While they were inside the restaurant, a light snowfall had started,  
covering everything outside in a gentle winter coat of white   
crystals, to Chibi Chibi`s delight.  
  
"YAAAAY! Snow!!!" she yelled in joy as she ran left and right in a   
small nearby park where she was making snowballs, starting a battle   
with Rei who was aiming very badly on purpose. "Can`t catch me!!!"   
said Chibi Chibi, running all around and having a ball in this   
wonderful snow.  
  
Rei was having a lot of fun too. It was barely below zero degree,   
and there was no wind to chill you through your coat as there had   
been so often under the reign of Aebonite. This evening was just   
perfect for playing outside.  
  
"A wonderful night for a romp in the snow, isn`t?" came a soft   
familiar voice. Rei looked behind her to see the serene face of   
her friend Setsuna, the guardian of time herself.  
  
"Hello, I didn`t think you would have followed us here." replied   
Rei.  
  
"I wanted to ask you something, Rei."  
  
"It`s about her, isn`t it?" replied the young Shinto priestess,   
pointing to the pink haired girl who was rolling a snowball so it   
would increase in size and make the base of a snowman.  
  
"Yes. You know I have seen much of the future, some of it through   
visions, some of it by living through it, but her... she`s a   
complete mystery to me. I know nothing of her, and she doesn`t   
even bother my temporal senses as being an anomaly. She belongs   
here right now, but I`ll be damned if I know why or how."   
explained Setsuna.  
  
Rei could see into her radiant purple eyes that she was indeed   
puzzled, an expression she could easily recognize on her face,   
because Setsuna was clumsy at hiding something she experienced so  
rarely.  
  
"So how do I fit in all this? I don`t even have my powers anymore."  
  
"You may not have your senshi powers, but you are still as powerful   
as your faith, my young friend. I`d like you to try and scrye into   
the farthest reaches of time with your psychic senses, in places   
where even I am helpless to look. Alone we have failed... together   
we may yet succeed to unlock this sweet child`s secrets."  
  
Rei was intrigued by the proposition. True, her own abilities had   
failed her in this matter, but the new insight provided by Setsuna   
might just do the trick. And she was right also in assuming that   
her psychic senses had remained intact, untouched by the brutal   
loss of her dark splinter to the evil Black Baron.  
  
"Then it`s agreed. We`ll work together to figure out about... hey,   
where is she?" wondered Rei, noticing that Chibi Chibi had wandered  
off from them, and quite fast for a little girl of her small size.  
  
Both women quickly followed the trail of tiny footprints in the   
snow, but they didn`t have to go too far. They rapidly caught up   
with her near some snow covered swings where a tall, slim woman   
was sitting, softly swinging back and forth and chatting with the   
little girl. Wrapped in a long coat which had the cut and style of  
a chinese cloak, she looked like she was a princess herself.  
  
"You`re very cute, you know that sweetie?" said the woman, her voice  
a delicious melody to the ears.  
  
Chibi Chibi giggled, enjoying the stranger`s company.  
  
"Chibi Chibi, there you are! Don`t run away from us like that, you   
never know who you might run into!" said Rei as she scooped up the   
little girl in her arms and hugged her tight.  
  
"She`s right you know, little one. There are some dark forces at   
work in this city, and many of them are much too strong to be   
ignored..." said the woman whom Setsuna and Rei saw in the   
moonlight as having the most beautiful scarlet hair braided in a   
remarkable asian fasion. Her face was peaceful and loving,   
reminding Rei of Usagi`s ability to see the good in any person  
she met, no matter how evil they seemed to be.   
  
"What... do you mean?" asked Setsuna, who was once again stunned to   
see another woman whom she could simply not understand how she   
fitted in the timestream, yet did not feel like a temporal   
abnormality.  
  
She simply lifted her hand, pointing to the other side of the park.   
They turned their heads and saw a dark ominous shadow standing   
there, shifting and changing ever so slightly in its form while   
retaining the same basic humanoid shape. Setsuna and Rei both   
shuddered as they recognized their vile enemy, the fiendish Black   
Baron.  
  
"How do you know..." asked Rei, turning around to the mysterious   
woman only to notice that she had vanished. "Where`d she go?"  
  
Setsuna looked down, but there were no footsteps indicating that   
she had left the swing, or that she had even been there at all.   
Turning back to look in Black Baron`s direction, she saw that he   
had vanished as well.  
  
"I think we better leave this place." suggested Rei. Setsuna   
agreed.  
  
"Chibi Chibi!" went the young toddler. At this point, Rei would   
have paid all the money in the world to know what that meant.  
  
* * *  
  
When Black Baron reappeared near one of Tokyo`s many water treatment  
plants, he was awaited by one of his older blighted ones who had   
been expecting him for a while.  
  
"Great master, we await your commands." he said, bowing to show his  
loyalty.  
  
"Where is he?" growled the echoing voice of Black Baron, his shadowy  
figure showing no sign of lip movement as he spoke.  
  
"Right here." said the blighted one, pointing to the inside of a   
nearby warehouse where the most toxic chemicals removed from the   
recycled sewage were stored until they could be sent to a processing  
plant to be disposed of. The two dark beings entered and saw there   
another blightedone, a very short male fighter dressed like all   
others of his kind in long flowing black clothes that were very   
reminiscent of desert nomads. He carried on his back a scabbard   
containing a sword almost as tall as he was, one whose handle was   
so long it could easily allow three hands to hold on to it at once.  
  
Sitting atop a drumcan as large as his frail body was, he was   
waiting patiently for his chance to serve and, if need be, die   
for his master.  
  
"Will this one be satisfactory for the battle to come?" asked the   
first blighted one.  
  
"I`ve never doubted your choices when it comes to selecting troops,   
you`ve proven yourself worthy every time since you first suggested   
we hire the manwolf to kill Beryl`s daughter." echoed Black   
Baron`s voice.  
  
The blighted one felt honored that his master of darkness agreed   
with his opinion. "Thank you my lord, it pleases me to serve you."  
  
"That you do very well... Velasquez." concluded Black Baron, turning  
around and vanishing in a shroud of darkness.  
  
The blighted one was stunned. None of his kind were ever allowed to  
retain their names after being reforged to their master`s will...   
that Black Baron had called him by his name was indeed the greatest   
of all honors that could be granted upon his foul existance.  
  
The second blighted one was equally impressed. "Did he just call   
you by... your name?"  
  
"Yes... yes he did... he allows me to be adressed by my real   
name..." realized the blighted one, still stunned by this sudden   
turn of events. "I am VELASQUEZ!!!" he screamed out loud, his name  
reverberating in the cold snowy night, but for no one but the   
two of them to hear.  
  
* * *  
  
Epilogue  
  
It had been a very slow night for the aging woman who was sitting   
patiently at her ekisha, the typically japanese fortune-telling   
tables that sprang up at any time of day or night at high traffic   
areas of train stations and commercial districts. This particular   
train station was seeing little passengers that night and fewer   
clients still for the old fortune teller.  
  
"I guess I won`t be having much luck myself." she thought, moving   
her small bundle of wooden sticks and shuffling it to hear the   
soothing familiar sound of the instrument of her trade. Her mother   
had taught her to use them to foretell the future at a very young   
age, and she had taught her own daughter in memory of her long   
matriarcal family line of diviners.  
  
Many, many people had come and gone seeking her advice, and she   
always gave them the very best counsel that her abilities allowed   
her to. Although tonight, there wasn`t going to be anyone asking   
for her special gifts.  
  
"I might as well pack up." she thought out loud.  
  
"Does that mean I`m too late for a consultation?" asked a very   
strong male voice nearby her small table. She was surprised to see   
there a tall man dressed completely in long black clothes, his long   
mane matching them in color. His face was strangely peaceful, his   
own serenity betrayed only by the harshness of his facial traits.   
Despite his scary appearance, his eyes spoke of a gentleness that   
made him something of a paradox.  
  
"Oh no, please sit down, I will do a reading for you right away!"   
she said with excitement, pointing to the folding chair in front   
of her small stand. As he sat down, a black cat came out of some   
nearby shadows and hopped on his lap, purring under his caresses.   
"What a beautiful cat you have there, kind sir. What be his name,   
if I may ask?" she inquired, amazed at the magnificient silver   
ankh adorning his forehead.  
  
"Osiris. He means more to me than anything... he`s not only a   
companion, he`s also... family. The only family I have." he   
replied, scratching the black coat of his cat behind his ears   
where several patches of whitening hairs were sprouting to reveal   
the feline`s advanced age.  
  
The old woman placed the sticks in a small bundle which she dropped   
on her table in one swift motion that showed her many decades of   
experience. Her eyes widened when she saw what the sticks told her.  
  
"I... have never seen such a thing..." she muttered, shocked by the   
reading she was doing for this strange man.  
  
"What do you see?" he asked. The cat was staring directly at her as   
well with his good left eye, the right one claimed long ago by   
blinding cataracts.  
  
"I see death. Millions upon millions of tortured souls calling   
your name in search of justice. You have become their cypher, and   
there will be even more blood spilled before you can find the   
peace you so desperately seek. There is a great fire awaiting   
you in the future, one that will devour your body and incinerate   
your soul... unless you embrace it without any hesitation. The   
forge of destiny has chosen you long ago, crafting you to its   
liking and setting you in a central position in a chess game of   
cosmic proportions." she said, her mind shifting into a state   
of openness that accompanied her most precise moments of scrying.   
She knew that every time she reached that state, her words were   
never wrong.  
  
"Am I to be a pawn in this game, or may I be a knight or rook   
yet?" he asked.  
  
"I cannot say. This is not my place to judge of the universe`s   
greater scheme." told the old fortune teller, feeling a bit   
uncomfortable about telling something so gloomy to such a charming  
young man. "I`m sorry I wasn`t able to be more helpful. I will   
forego my fee as compensation, valued customer."  
  
The man smiled. "You were quite enlightening, great scryer, and I   
can tell your reputation is well earned, as is your fee." he said,   
pulling a handful of thousand yen bills from his coat inner pocket   
and handing them over to her. There was at least ten thousand yen   
in total, she could tell from a quick glance.   
  
(author`s note: 10 000 yen equals roughly 100 dollars)  
  
"Oh... thank you so much, kind sir, I am glad I was able to help   
you after all." she said, bowing profusely as she thanked him.   
She took the money from his gloved hand and felt intrigued by   
the obvious strength in his perfectly shaped palm and fingers.   
"May I be so bold as to offer my services of palmistry? Your fate   
is an intriguing one, and I would gladly offer my expert service   
for free to such a generous client as yourself."  
  
The man pulled back his hand and returned it to his furry friend   
whose back he stroked gently.  
  
"I`m afraid there`s not much to read there, but I am touched by the   
offer. May your business be plentiful, kind diviner, and good night   
to you." said the man as he got up and left as silently as the   
spirits of her ancestors, the cat climbing over his shoulder where   
he lied down as the duo moved away, leaving the cruel neon lights   
of the train station to the soothing dark of the night.  
  
The old woman sincerely hoped that his destiny would not be the   
tragic one that might be awaiting him should he not recognize the   
signs on the road he traveled, for she could tell he had much to   
accomplish, and that the fate of many more relied on his own.  
  
  
To be continued...  
  
  



	46. And the Band Played On

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
With a fine crystal glass of expensive red wine in hand, the former  
first knightmare of the spheres was pondering upon the events which  
had unfolded into the world that he had claimed as his protectorate.  
He had hoped that letting go of his title would earn the earth some   
well deserved peace, but this was obviously not going to happen   
anytime soon.  
  
In his rather spartan appartment decorated entirely in gloomy black   
furniture, he wondered how the recent events were going to affect   
those he had come to care about. Mizuno Akane and her daughter Ami,   
Rei, Usako... Rei had already been struck down by his former master   
and teacher Black Baron, and the others would certainly follow in   
the next few days.  
  
The phone rang.  
  
"Hello?" he answered, turning his glass in circles in his other   
hand, watching the crimson liquid swirl around and leaving a red   
glint on the fine crystal.  
  
"Hey, it`s Akane downstairs, can you buzz me in?"  
  
"Sure thing." he replied, hanging up and pushing the building`s   
front door lock release to let in the woman who had come to steal   
his heart. He smiled at the thought, not so long ago he never even   
knew he still had one. Then again, he did spend the better part of   
the millenium learning to harness the power of darkness, and being   
married for over a hundred years to a demon lord ruling a blasted   
wasteland did very little to lighten his mood.  
  
Still, he was faced with the same problem. What to do if Black Baron  
persisted? No matter what he could do, Black Baron would tear him to  
pieces because of his unequaled mastery of the arts of darkness. And  
regardless how much Ronmar had been touched by light lately, his   
former master would have no difficulty reaching through and pulling   
him apart, the same as he would do to his precious Akane if she even  
tried to interfere, as he knew she surely would. Akane would die to  
protect her daughter unless Ronmar was there to protect her, and he   
could hardly do that if he was already dead. The greater knightmare   
could find himself yet another soulless body later on as he`d done   
many times in the past already, but this time he didn`t know if he   
could even find the strength to go on resurrecting himself if it   
were in a world without HER, or those three young girls he had come   
to consider as his daughters of sorts.  
  
A quick, perky knock came at the door, Akane`s signature knock. It   
lifted his heart to hear it, although he felt sad to know that   
within the next few days life as he had come to know would be   
shattered to pieces, gone for good.  
  
"Hello, Mitchell!" she said, hugging and kissing him as he opened   
the door for her.  
  
"Hello, Akane." he replied with little emotion.  
  
"You seem gloomy today, honey... more so than usual." she observed.  
  
"I`m just worried for the girls. That`s all."  
  
"Maybe you need to get your mind off their trouble for a while...   
until that Black Baron strikes again, at least. Maybe you could   
do something to keep you busy. Robin told me that your host body   
was a great doctor, so maybe you could use your host memory to   
become a doctor as well? That would certainly keep your mind   
occupied until you got a chance to help the girls out!" she   
suggested.  
  
"That wouldn`t go, I`m afraid. Among knightmares, it`s considered   
taboo to use host memories and skills, in any circumstances. It   
would be bad form for me to use Technuma`s skills." explained Ronmar.  
"That`s why I had to give the title of first knightmare to Behemoth,   
because although Thanatora had hunter skills before she took over   
her newest body, she still benefited from its superior hunting   
skills in tracking down her offering for the Challenging. It was a  
borderline case, not close enough to openly shame her into pulling   
out of the competition, but too close to allow her to take over the  
reigns of knightmare society."  
  
"Oh, I`m sorry, I didn`t mean to embarass you..." she appologized.  
  
"It`s not your fault, I never told you about this before. And don`t   
worry about me, I`m used to being so gloomy all the time. That`s   
what knightmares stand for." he told her, taking a second crystal   
glass from a cabinet and filling it for his girlfriend.  
  
"Perhaps so.. but you do have moments when you shine as bright as a   
sun." added Akane, taking the glass and placing her other arm   
around his waist.  
  
"All thanks to you, my love." he concluded, emptying his glass in   
a single sip.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 46  
  
AND THE BAND PLAYED ON  
  
  
  
The horn of Naru`s car reminded Usako very brutally that she went to  
bed just a little too late the night before, and that this chat she   
had with Seiya was something she shouldn`t repeat on any given night  
where the messiah, the senshi`s guide and teacher, required her to   
get up at sunrise the next morning.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I`m coming, I`m coming..." she mumbled between two   
sips of extra strong coffee.  
  
"You look tired, honey." commented Usagi. "So that long talk with   
Seiya ended really late, huh?" she added.  
  
"Yes, it did. I`d like to thank you for taking Chibi Chibi home   
when you left, by the way." replied the scarlet lady.  
  
"No sweat. Have fun with Naru today, you should get increased power  
and a better armor, judging from what Ami got herself." said Usagi.  
  
"Wait a minute- why aren`t YOU coming along?" protested Usako.  
  
"Because Naru says my path is a different one... one I must find   
myself."  
  
Usako mumbled under her breath about how lucky her mother should   
count herself not to be getting bossed around like this, leaving   
the Tsukino house to join Naru and her sister senshi whom she`d   
already picked up.  
  
"Chibi Chibi!" came the voice of the cutest little girl Usagi had   
ever seen, the mysterious Chibi Chibi.  
  
"Hello, sweetheart. Usako-mama is gone for now, so I`ll be taking   
care of you today... how would you like to go see Ami, Shingo and   
Laurella?"  
  
"Chibi Chibi!!!" she replied with her usual enthusiasm.  
  
"I knew you`d like it! Now how about some breakfast?" offered   
Usagi.  
  
"Yeah! Food!" went the little girl.  
  
"A girl who values food as much as I do... no wonder I love you!"   
said Usagi, kissing her on the cheek as she lifted her up on a   
chair.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hop in!" said Robin as she squeezed herself from the front seat of   
Naru`s car to the back seat where Makoto already was.  
  
"Here, let me get those out of the way." said Makoto as she picked   
up her metal crutches and freed the seat for her friend.  
  
"You won`t need those where we`re going today." observed Naru.  
  
"Somebody didn`t have enough sleep last night!" laughed Robin,   
noticing Usako`s absent look in her eyes.  
  
"Somebody looks in a very good mood, too! Care to give us details,   
Robin?" asked Makoto.  
  
"I can`t explain it... I`ve just been like this all morning, despite  
burning my toasts at breakfast, bruising my leg when I slipped in   
the shower and ripping up a skirt I wanted to wear today! This good  
mood just won`t go away... and I`m LOVING it!" she explained, a   
large stupid smile on her face as Naru pulled back into the street   
and drove them away.  
  
"Tell me, Robin, how much do you think about... a certain idol   
singer you met last night?" asked Makoto, a mischievous grin on   
her lips.  
  
"I can`t seem to get him out of my mind, actually." she answered,   
sighing softly when she heard her friend mention Yaten.  
  
"And what do you like about him?" asked Naru.  
  
"Everything. His long silver hair, his emerald green eyes, his   
shining smile, the way he has of making every word he says sound   
like a small spring cascading off a mountainside..." she went on,   
smiling even more as she stared outside the car window, seeing   
Yaten`s image wherever she looked.  
  
"You know what?" said Makoto.  
  
"Me thinks..." started Naru.  
  
"...that our friend Robin..." continued Usako.  
  
"...IS IN LOOOOOOVE!!!" concluded the three of them, making Robin   
blush a deep shade of red.  
  
"Isn`t that sweet, our little Robin is all grown up!" said Naru,   
giggling.  
  
"NO! I`m not in love! I`m, well... err... I`m attracted to him,   
but... it`s just that..." she mumbled, unable to complete her   
thoughts.  
  
"You have no idea what love is, do you?" asked Makoto, putting her  
arm around Robin`s shoulder.  
  
"Not really..." she admitted in a low voice. "I know that it`s a   
powerful emotion, one that has been driving the lives of all my   
friends, especially Usagi. I know my dad was deeply attached to   
Technulis Mercury, and once he told me he loved her... but I   
don`t really know what it is myself."  
  
"Love is the certitude that you want to spend every moment of   
your life with someone very special to you." said Naru, thinking   
about her dear Umino.  
  
"Love is being ready to make the greatest sacrifice for the one   
you hold dear." said Makoto, a tear rolling off her cheek as she   
remembered Ghangoroth.  
  
"Love is even more powerful than all the dark splinters, silver   
crystals and sacred weapons in the universe put together." replied   
Usako, smiling too as she thought of someone that only twenty-four   
hours earlier she couldn`t stand at all. Seiya had made quite an   
impression on her, as she learned for herself that this jerk   
persona she believed him to be was only a facade to cover up for   
the shyness he just couldn`t control. He turned out to be a really   
sweet, caring guy who, for all his manly sports prowess, was no   
less sensitive.  
  
Usako did her best to hide her own stupid smile that was crying out   
to be unleashed, as she had totally and hopelessly fallen in love   
as well. But there was no way she would let the others find out   
before she mustered the strength to tell Seiya her feelings for   
him. And that could take a while.  
  
"But how do I handle that?" wondered Robin, resting her head   
against Makoto`s shoulder. "How do I manage to go on my daily   
business without that love for Yaten pestering me and preventing  
me from concentrating? From invading my every waking thought?"  
  
"You can`t, I`m afraid." answered Naru, sighing as she once again   
thought of her boyfriend.  
  
"That`s what makes love be love. It`s beyond your control, and it   
rides you like a jockey rides a horse." sighed Usako.  
  
"But when you and your guy share that loving feeling... there`s   
nothing like it in the universe, dear friend." concluded Makoto,   
putting her second arm around Robin`s shoulder.  
  
"Do you think Yaten loves me too?" asked Robin to her friends.  
  
"Did he kiss you?" wondered Usako.  
  
"Yeah... we kissed a lot last night." Robin replied, smiling as she   
remembered her date. Her friends went "Ooooh" all at once, hinting   
to Robin that she indeed had found herself an official boyfriend.  
  
* * *  
  
Yaten, on the other hand, was less than reassured at how his evening   
had turned out. What started out as a simple date to figure whether   
this Robin Redwing was princess Kakyuu or not had somehow become an   
all-out lip wrestling match where there were no losers. No matter   
how he tried to justify his actions in his head, he inevitably got   
back to regreting what he did.  
  
"Stupid, stupid, stupid... how could I let my head be turned by   
this pretty girl? This vibrant, energetic, charming girl..." he   
thought, his daydream focusing once again on the sparkling green   
eyes of Robin.  
  
"Yo Yaten! Care to come down from Kinmoku for a few moments?" went   
Seiya, calling Yaten`s attention back to reality. He could tell   
that the silver haired boy was somewhere else entirely from the   
way he was dragging his spoon in his bowl of chocolate cereal   
rather than scarfing it down in no time flat.  
  
"...huh? What`d you say?" replied Yaten, barely hearing his brother.   
  
"Seiya was asking you if this Robin you told us about had any chance   
of being the princess." told him Taiki in a very factual manner.  
  
"I`m... not sure yet. She has the caring side of her, and her   
innocence to the ways of this world is quite remarkable. I need to   
spend more time with her to be sure." he said.  
  
At this moment, Seiya slapped him behind the head.  
  
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?" protested Yaten.  
  
"You`ve fallen in love with her, it`s written all over your face!"   
accused him Seiya, anger flaring in his eyes. "After that   
self-righteous speech you made me about falling for an earth woman,   
you go and do the very same thing!"  
  
"So I fell for her, I admit it. My heart is not as cold as I`d have   
you guys believe, you know." he added, tears forming in his eyes. "I   
have a gaping hole in my heart I didn`t even know I had, and she   
filled it right up."  
  
Taiki`s face brightened up. He understood just what his brother   
meant.  
  
"I`m happy for you, Yaten. I always knew you had a lot of love to   
give, I was hoping that you would find someone to express your   
feelings to one day." he said. His smile told even more than just   
these words.  
  
"Did you meet someone too, Taiki?" asked him Seiya.  
  
"Let`s just say that I have someone to look up to even in those   
dreadful moments of darkness." concluded the tall brainy member   
of the Three Lights, finishing his bowl of oatmeal as he thought   
of the pretty senshi of ice, Sailor Mercury.  
  
* * *  
  
"That was kind of your mom to let us use your place like this."   
commented Laurella as she sat down at the kitchen table. Usagi and   
Mamoru joined her there, alongside Ami who was busy scanning some   
pictures of the senshi to convert them to data format.  
  
"Say, Ami, didn`t you say Umino would be here?" wondered Shingo as   
he brought a tray of muffins on the kitchen table of the luxurious   
apartment where the Mizuno family lived. Usagi dove right in and   
stuffed her face with the delicious blueberry treats to no one`s   
surprise. Mamoru smiled when he saw his fiancee indulge in her   
voracious appetite.  
  
"He is with us right now." Ami replied. She spun her laptop around   
and everyone saw his glasses zoomed in and filling up the screen.  
  
"Don`t stand so close to the screen, Umino." suggested Laurella.  
  
"Sorry gang, I`m not used to this communication system yet." he   
apologized.  
  
"Where are you?" asked Shingo.  
  
"On my way to see some friends. They have a knack for finding   
impossible things and other such knick-knacks." he explained as his   
face shrunk onscreen to a more manageable size.  
  
"This is the reason why I`ve been scanning these old pictures of   
ourselves in uniform. His friends sell the parts I need, but   
they`re very expensive..." said Ami.  
  
"...unless you have something they REALLY want!" completed Umino.   
"These guys have devoted a large part of their abode to the creation  
of a sailor senshi shrine. They worship the ground you girls walk   
on, as I used to do."  
  
"You certainly did, nerd boy. That was annoying as hell." snarled   
Usagi, remembering how Umino had a fixation on Sailor Moon a few   
years back- as well as a huge crush on her. "Thank god he`s fallen   
for Naru..." she thought.  
  
"I have to say every guy had a crush on either one of the senshi at   
some point..." commented Shingo, putting his hand over Laurella`s   
but feeling no emotions from her still. He felt crushed inside-   
she was so alive and vibrant before her encounter with the deadly   
Black Baron, but now she was just a hollow shell, a mere shadow of   
the person she used to be. And every day she seemed to be just a   
little more lifeless.  
  
"Umino will be getting me the parts I need to prepare for our   
operation... now, Usagi, would you explain us the details?" said   
Ami, getting the strategic part of their meeting under way.  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting alone at his coffee shop table, Umino peeked through his   
stock of beautiful sailor senshi shots in order to decide which ones  
he`d present to his friends in order to deal some of the computer   
parts they got for him. Negociating with these hacker-scavengers   
was nothing less of a chess match, and revealing your hand too fast   
was the fastest way to get the short end of the stick. Fortunately,   
Umino had been dealing with these guys for over four years, and   
they were good friends of his. That helped a lot in getting good   
deals.  
  
"That`s a fabulous picture of Sailor Moon you have there." came a   
soothing voice behind him. Umino turned around to see Kou Taiki was   
at the next table, having a cup of coffee over his calculus book.  
  
"Thank you, I`m a collector." he said politely, recognizing the   
famous singer. "He really is nice, Ami was right about him." he   
thought.  
  
As he went through his images one at a time, one of them caught   
Taiki`s attention: a picture of Sailor Mercury in her full soul   
power armor, holding her silver-laced sapphire bow Deadshot.  
  
"WHERE did you get THAT?!?" he uttered, his eyes almost popping   
out of their sockets.  
  
"I got it through a friend... this is one of my favorites." replied   
Umino.  
  
"If you`d like to trade it... I have something great for you."   
offered Taiki, producing a small powerbook from the backpack under   
his chair and turning it on. Pulling an image file from his drive,   
he opened a picture of the three Starlights.  
  
"I`ll trade you that Sailor Mercury pic in exchange for this one.   
They`re the Sailor Starlights, few people even know they exist."   
said Taiki.  
  
Umino felt his heart beat at full speed as he recognized Maker,   
Healer and Fighter from the description the senshi had given him.   
He immediately agreed to the trade, knowing the girls would   
absolutely love to see this image of their mysterious new allies.  
  
"You`ve got a deal, Taiki! I`m Umino, nice to meet you."  
  
"Same here, friend. I hope we can do more exchanges in the future,   
perhaps?"  
  
"I`d like that very much." agreed Umino.  
  
* * *  
  
Slowly awakening from her healing slumber, Michiru reached out   
blindly over to the other side of the bed where she found nothing   
but a warm spot among the wrinkled sheets. Opening her eyes, she saw   
Haruka already up and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, doing   
push-ups in front of Hotaru`s playpen.  
  
"`ruka! `ruka!" went the cute little girl as she looked upon her   
tomboyish "father" exercising as she always did every morning. She   
tried to say her name, but wasn`t quite up to the challenge just   
yet.  
  
"You`ve got your mommy`s eyes, you know that?" observed Haruka,   
smiling to the reborn silent messiah who smiled right back at her.  
  
"What time is it?" asked Michiru, yawning as she stretched her arms   
and back.  
  
"Nine thirty."  
  
"Already? Why didn`t you wake me up?"  
  
"You looked so peaceful while you slept." answered the blonde woman,   
interrupting her daily routine to admire the beauty of her lover.   
Even with her aquamarine hair tangled up from a night`s sleep and   
no makeup on, she was a beauty to behold.  
  
"I was having beautiful dreams." she said, smiling.  
  
"At least that makes one of us..." thought Haruka, her face   
stiffened by the raw emotions tearing her up.  
  
"What`s the matter, darling? You`ve been training like crazy ever   
since we lost our powers to that blighted one. You seem almost   
obsessed by that..." observed Michiru.  
  
"Why shouldn`t I be? That monster Black Baron made us destroy a   
CHILD!!! I have to be ready to kill him the instant our powers   
return." protested Haruka, clenching her fists.  
  
"That was NOT a child, and you know it! It was an evil creature   
whose human disguise LOOKED like a child, but its heart was corrupt   
to the core... we did what we HAD to, annihilated a vile being   
whose very existance desecrated all other forms of life. Had we   
not killed it, it would have killed US, and countless others   
afterwards no doubt." explained Michiru.  
  
"A lot of comfort that gives me..." snarled Haruka who slammed her   
fist into a nearby lamp in a sudden outburst of rage. Hotaru started  
to cry as she heard the lamp smash into pieces on the bedroom wall.  
  
Giving a shameful look to Haruka, Michiru went to the playpen and   
picked up Hotaru whom she sang to softly. The frightened child   
calmed down gradually, but Haruka didn`t wait for her smile to   
return. She stormed out of the room, feeling angry both at herself   
and her enemy for allowing his devious deceit to turn her into what   
she had become. Right now, she hated herself and didn`t want the   
two ladies of her life to see her like this.  
  
* * *  
  
"Are we there yet?" asked Robin who was bored out of her mind.  
  
"You`ve asked the same question six times already." observed Usako.  
  
"Yeah, but I`m really, really BORED now!!! Where are we going   
anyway?!?" added Robin.  
  
"Almost there, girls. We`re going to my mom`s ski lodge." explained   
Naru.  
  
"WOO HOO! SKI LODGE!!!" yelled out in joy Usako, Makoto and Robin.  
  
"Don`t make any plans to go skiing just yet. Remember we`re all here   
for a reason, and that`s to allow you all to gain further insight   
into your souls, and gain more power in the process." objected   
Naru. The cheering spontaneously stopped.  
  
"Killjoy." mumbled Robin under her breath.  
  
"This is the ideal place for you three to learn to recharge your   
ultimate attacks by doing the soul searching necessary to this   
rather... difficult process." said Naru.  
  
"And a good thing too. Facing the triplet youma and Gingitsune   
was a bad time to find out that I couldn`t pull off my Seraphim   
Wings of Wrath more than once." replied Robin.  
  
"But I haven`t used mine yet!" protested Usako.  
  
"No matter. You need to learn this anyway, so you`ll be ready to   
recharge it as soon as you depleted your soul energy by using it for  
the first time. Aaaah, here we are!"  
  
Naru`s car pulled into the driveway of a beautiful ski lodge located  
at a short distance from a popular ski resort. It was hidden from   
view of the main road leading there, but taking the private access   
road revealed to the girls just how much money Naru`s mother was   
making by selling expensive jewelry at Osa-P.  
  
"That is such a beautiful place!" said Makoto, blown away by the   
sheer beauty of the wooden house built in swiss construction style.  
  
"I absolutely love it!" agreed Usako.  
  
"Let`s go inside!" urged Robin. Naru handed over the keys to Robin  
who quickly ran to the front door, followed in hot pursuit by Usako.  
Makoto walked as fast as her legs and crutches allowed her to, but   
she felt Naru`s hand on her shoulder stopping her. She looked back   
and saw that her friend had changed herself to her messiah fuku, a   
modified version of the senshi uniform that had a long flowing white  
gown and a delicately crafted silver breastplate. Her gloved hand   
felt soft to the touch, her healing powers radiating from within   
even as she wasn`t using them right then.  
  
"This is where I take my own soul quest, I suppose?" guessed Makoto.  
The messiah nodded in approval. "All right then... JUPITER SOUL  
POWER TRANSFORM!"  
  
A flash of golden light bathed Makoto, temporarily returning her full  
motor skills as she turned into the senshi of lightning, Sailor   
Jupiter. Her crutches were gone, she now stood and walked on her own  
again. With these repeated transformations combined with Naru`s   
healing spine massages, Makoto had no doubt she would have no   
further need of her metal supports by the time the cherry trees   
blossomed anew.  
  
"Come with me." whispered Naru to Makoto. She led her up a steep   
slope towards the top of the mountain.  
  
* * *  
  
"Room service!" came a voice through the door. Fenris had woken up   
the instant he heard the soft rattle of the hotel attendant knocking  
on the door, his ears pointed up and his eyes wide open. He was   
still holding Crystallite against his furry body, her curled form   
sleeping in undisturbed peace. Moving swiftly, he slid on some   
clothes and went to answer the door to pick up the breakfast order   
that he`d placed with the kitchen the night before.  
  
"I hope those eggs are well done..." thought the manwolf, knowing   
just how much his mistress hated liquid yellows in her plate. He   
opened the door and saw a young hotel employee pushing a tray   
carrying their meal.  
  
"Here`s your breakfeast, sir, delivered just as you wanted." said   
the young man with a smile. He was amazed at the large hulking man   
standing in front of him, as the magical ring given to him by   
Crystallite clouded normal human beings` minds to have them see the   
huge beast as a tall human male with almost unnaturaly dark skin.   
The hotel employee had met black men many times in his service to   
the establishment, but never one with skin so dark that it was   
actually jet black.  
  
"Thank you." replied Fenris, letting his protective bodyguard   
reflexes down. This young boy was no threat to Crystallite- and   
certainly no match to him.  
  
"Is that breakfast I smell?" asked the still sleepy redhead beauty   
as she awoke, barely hiding her bare body under the thin bedsheets.   
The young man had trouble suppressing a smile as he got a look at   
her slim young forms, and gave a small elbow jab to Fenris along   
with a quick wink.  
  
"So you like them young, huh? Bet she`s a wild one in bed!" he   
whispered to the manwolf.  
  
Bearing his fangs as he let out a very loud beastial growl, the   
manwolf`s eyes glowed blood red with rage, his magical ring failing   
to hide his wolfish features for a fraction of a second. Fear   
grabbing hold of him, the young man ran for his life, not really   
knowing exactly what happened if only that this muscular guy would   
rip him apart for daring to insult his lover.  
  
"His courage sure went to hell in a handbasket." observed   
Crystallite as she painfully moved over the bed to reach the   
breakfast tray where her plate of eggs and toast was awaiting her.  
  
"So did his tip." added Fenris, closing the door and joining   
Crystallite on the side of the bed to chow down on his plate of   
ham, sausage and bacon. He noticed how much more refreshed his  
mistress looked after their evening and night out.  
  
"You certainly seem better this morning." he said, looking at her   
eyes who regained their glint of determination. "Your hand his   
healing nicely, too."  
  
"Spending time away from the Poldzer Triangle was something I   
needed to do. I`m all better to continue our journey to rebuild   
the black crystal!" said Crystallite with a big smile.  
  
"I`m glad to hear that... because there is still a big step to   
take to complete it." replied Fenris.  
  
"I know. But I also know it`s my destiny to do this... mother   
would be so proud of me!"  
  
* * *  
  
"So where do you think the messiah led Jupiter to?" wondered Usako   
as she used her fire control powers to light the fireplace.  
  
"Beats me. Probably some kind of mystic place for her to meditate or  
something. Hey, we have some hot chocolate instant mix here!"   
replied Robin from the kitchen.  
  
"Great, bring it over! This fireplace has a hook and boiling pot   
on it. We can warm some water and cook something too."  
  
"Beautiful... let`s eat something while we can before Naru returns   
here and leads us out to sit in a cold river or something."   
commented Robin. "I know she means well, but I`m a bit sensitive   
to cold." she added, bringing over some hot chocolate mix, water   
and some of the food that Naru had thoughtfully packed in her car   
trunk.  
  
"Being raised in a temperature controled space station will do   
that to you I guess." said Usako.  
  
"No kidding. For all the efforts dad did when he created me, he   
still forgot a few details... can`t blame him for that, though,   
overall he did an amazing job in such a short time."  
  
"He certainly did. It`s no surprise Yaten couldn`t resist you." said   
Usako, grinning.  
  
"You`ll never let that one go, will you?" replied Robin. Usako shook   
her head. "Then how about I ask you a few questions regarding... his   
brother Seiya?!?"  
  
Usako gulped when she heard that name on Robin`s lips. Maybe Robin   
was a little more perceptive than she first thought.  
  
"What about Seiya?" she asked, trying to bluff her way out of this   
discussion.  
  
"You spent a long time with him last night, from what Michiru told   
me... and you seemed to be enjoying his presence a LOT!"  
  
"That means nothing." objected Usako.  
  
"You were giving him what Michiru called the 'girlish laugh' when he  
made jokes, even at the really bad ones."  
  
"That still doesn`t mean a thing. He`s a great storyteller."  
  
"You were feeding each other from your plates and holding hands the   
whole time." told her Robin, flicking her silver hair strand to add   
weight to the argument. Usako was hard pressed to counter that one.   
She just blushed and looked back into the fire, tears forming in her  
eyes.  
  
"Oooh, I didn`t mean to make you cry, Usako... I think it`s wonderful  
that my friend knows just how good I feel!" said Robin, sitting on   
the couch in front the fireplace and hugging Usako.  
  
"He just makes feel so alive, you know?" said Usako, a faint smile   
returning to her lips as she rubbed off her tears.  
  
"Like nothing can hurt you, I know... he makes you feel like you`re   
floating on a cloud." said Robin, sighing as she remembered the   
kisses of the silver haired idol singer.  
  
"We`re just two fools in love, aren`t we?" asked Usako. Robin   
nodded to agree.  
  
* * *  
  
"Right here." said the messiah as she and Sailor Jupiter reached the  
top of the mountain where they found a small plateau overlooking the  
entire region. The view was absolutely breathtaking.  
  
"This is... beautiful!" said Jupiter, looking all around to the other  
forest covered mountains and to the distant Tokyo which she was   
could vaguely make out.  
  
"And this is where you must find yourself, and in doing so the power   
you will need in battles to come." explained the messiah.  
  
"Against Black Baron, you mean?"  
  
"Among others, yes. There are many enemies who will come and go in   
our lives, but that`s neither here nor there. Today, you must find   
yourself."  
  
"Okay... what do I do?" asked Jupiter.  
  
"You`ll know what to do. I have to go back to the lodge to guide   
Usako and Robin now... this trial of soul is one you must take   
alone." said Naru, taking the snowy path back down.  
  
"Great... just great... what exactly am I supposed to..." Jupiter   
started to ask herself, but a noise stopped her right there. The   
low rumbling of dark storm clouds above her head. Right there and   
now she knew what she had to do.  
  
"Great and mighty Mjolnir, I summon you!" she called out, raising   
her right hand in the air. In a blast of lightning, a jade warhammer  
formed itself in her hand. "Powers of the storm, your child beckons   
you! Bring me the power I need and the wisdom I seek!!!"  
  
Immediately, the deafening sound of crashing thunder echoed in the  
mountain area, and Naru knew that her friend was well on her way to  
attaining her goal.  
  
"Great god of thunder and lightning, lend me your strength!!!" yelled  
Jupiter as she brandished her sacred weapon to the sky. In response,  
a bolt of lightning came crashing down, hitting the warhammer and   
surrounding the senshi of lightning in its power. Then another one.  
Then another.  
  
Within mere seconds, a thunder wall was surrounding her totally   
without actually touching her. Something was missing, though.   
Jupiter had summoned the power of lightning countless times before,  
and this sensation was nothing new to her. What was she doing   
wrong?  
  
"MORE!!!" she screamed, begging the skies to release its full   
strength upon her.  
  
Just as she was about to receive an even more intense blast from the  
black clouds overhead, she had her attention captured by a small   
chirping sound- a tiny hatchling bird was right under her, trembling  
as it cowered against her foot! If the lightning blast she had just  
asked for hit her as she was planning to, it would be killed for   
certain... but she could never recreate the current storm conditions  
for her soul search either. She could save the hatchling bird OR   
ascend further into her power, but not both.  
  
She had to choose, and choose she did. As the thunder fell for one   
last magnificient strike, she rose her warhammer and diverted the   
electrical charge so that it dissipated harmlessly in the air all   
around her, as well as grounding the energy she had already charged   
so far. The storm clouds disipated as well, letting the soft glow   
of the winter sun brush her skin once again. Jupiter felt a little   
sad inside for letting the promise of added power slip by her, but  
she had saved an innnocent life from a horrid death by electrocution,  
and it had certainly been worth it.  
  
Bending down, she picked up the trembling birdling in her gloved   
hands and kissed it softly.  
  
"There`s no need to be afraid, darling. I won`t hurt you..." she   
whispered.  
  
"I know, my beautiful child." came a thundering voice inside her   
head. Jupiter was taken aback- somehow, she just knew that the bird   
itself had just told her that through telepathy. "Your greatest   
strength is not your muscles, Kino Makoto, and neither is your   
lightning summoning abilitiy. It is your heart, and your   
willingness to sacrifice of yourself for the sake of others."  
  
The tiny bird spread its little wings, a great gale coming out of   
nowhere as it did. As it took flight and flew in circles around her,  
it grew in size to become larger and more magnificient than the   
mightiest eagle, static charges filling up Makoto`s body as a hint   
to the unimaginable electrical powers of what Makoto then recognized  
as the legendary Thunderbird, whose great strength rivaled that of  
the mythical Phoenix itself.  
  
"Your love is more powerful than my talons, and will take you   
further than my wings could. Now receive your true reward, my child-  
your kind and generous heart has earned it." told her the telepathic   
voice of the mighty bird. From his open beak came a strong bolt of   
lightning which hit Jupiter squarely in the chest, though it did not  
hurt her in any way, rather infused her with renewed power and an   
even stronger desire to triumph over evil.  
  
She felt her body get lighter, and her feet lost contact with the   
ground as power flowed from the Thunderbird`s beak into her body,   
flooding her with the power that was rightfully hers. Closing her   
eyes, she revelled in this marvelous sensation- she had triumphed,   
and intuitively knew that her ultimate attack was once again hers   
to use, and that in the future she could recharge it on her own just   
like Mercury could.  
  
When she reopened her eyes, her feet were once again touching the   
ground. Her fuku had been improved upon by the addition of shoulder   
pads and a full breastplate, the extension of her leg protection   
over her tighs where her "senshi of lightning" kanji were now   
engraved proudly. Even her warhammer had been modified, the carvings  
on the sacred weapon had been enhanced with pure gold in a very   
artistic manner.  
  
"These are my gifts to you, child of lightning, may you find them   
useful on your long path." concluded the magnificient Thunderbird   
before vanishing in a blast of thunder with a loud and shrill   
eaglelike scream.  
  
"Thank you, thundrous one... I will use these gifts in your honor."   
she whispered, looking to the place where it had disappeared.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	47. Revelations of Self and Others

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
  
In the flickering light of a half-consumed red candle, a young   
teenage girl shuffled her tarot cards as she did so often, although   
her expert motions were more an exercise in futility than an actual   
ritual for seeing the future.  
  
She was already quite adept at clairvoyance, much too adept to her   
own taste. She had the uncanny ability to predict the future that   
had made all her friends desert her ever since this talent- or   
curse as she referred to it- had manifested itself. Having   
predicted the soon to come bankrupcy of her parents` family   
business, she had been sommarily kicked out of her home in a rash   
moment of fatherly misdirected anger.  
  
Forced to fend for herself, she had taken to read the future for a   
living, but had quickly discovered that few people wanted to hear   
about the future... what they wanted to hear was that they would be   
getting promotions, lots of money and find love soon. Nobody wanted   
to know how soon and horribly they would die, how fast their spouse   
would leave them for their secret lover or what bad news the doctor   
would tell them at that appointment tomorrow afternoon. She did   
manage to get a few clients here and there who wanted to know the   
REAL future and not just some well rehearsed fairy tale, but those   
were few and far between. Certainly not enough to make next month`s   
rent, that was for sure.  
  
Besides, she knew exactly who was coming along right now, and her   
path had been traced already. Yoshie was ready to accept her dark   
fate, a tragicly ironic one considering her name meant "good fortune  
and prosperity". She laid down the tarot cards on the table in a   
cross formation. As she placed the last one, she heard a knock at   
the door. Yoshie had a faint smile, as the cards` dreadful   
prediction matched exactly what she knew would happen.  
  
"You can come in, Anubis, I`ve been expecting you and your friends...   
Sukeko and Alice, I do believe it is?" she said as the door opened   
behind her, not even bothering to turn around. She intuitively knew   
that her visitors were two girls; one blue haired and one red haired,  
both dressed in clothes colored to match. They were there along with   
a white cat whose brow bore a golden crescent moon.  
  
"Correct." replied the white Venusian cat in the blue haired girl`s   
arms. Sukeko was petting him short white hair with her long slender   
fingers, and she sat in front of Yoshie still holding the cat so the   
two of them could talk. "I came here..."   
  
"...because I have something you want and I don`t especially   
treasure, in exchange of which you want me to accept your green gem.  
It will, of course, burn itself into my palm with excrutiating pain,   
but grant me great powers in the process." interrupted the   
clairvoyant Yoshie.  
  
"Err... yes..." admited Anubis who was surprised that Yoshie was much  
more insightful than he had expected. This might put a grain of sand   
in the gears of his plan...  
  
"Don`t worry, I accepted this fate long ago. I accept your deal,   
even if you`re a demon asking me to sign on the dotted line in my   
own blood." she said, handing over her open hand to ask for what   
she knew the cat and his acolytes had for her.  
  
"Give it to her, Alice." ordered the cat.  
  
"Of course, Chesterfield!" replied the insane Yohko, lost as always   
in her "Alice in Wonderland" fantasy world where Anubis was the   
vanishing cat and Sukeko the blue caterpillar. She produced a small   
glithering gem similar to the ones Sukeko and herself had in their   
palm, burned in placed by the stone`s own power. She placed it in   
Yoshie`s hand where it immediately started to heat up, hissing as   
the nauseating smell of charred flesh filled the small appartment.  
  
Anubis was rather impressed by this new recruit who showed little   
sign of discomfort as the green gem chewed its way through her palm,  
almost totally oblivious to the terrible pain that had sent his   
other two minions into a fit of screaming agony.  
  
"The pain of the body means nothing to me. The pain of the soul is   
much worse by far... and that is why I surrender my fate to yours,   
Anubis." said the girl as her eyes and short hair turned bright   
green in color. She clenched her fists and grinded her teeth,   
determined not to show any sign of the terrible pain that was   
shooting up her arm and threatening her very sanity.  
  
Anubis just laughed. He didn`t give a damn about her life, or anybody  
else`s for that matter.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 47  
  
REVELATIONS OF SELF AND OTHERS  
  
  
  
"Now THIS is what I call a quest of personal exploration!" sighed  
Robin, comfortably set on the couch in front of the fireplace. The   
ski lodge of Naru`s parents was indeed a magnificient one, and the   
genetically engineered girl was very pleased that the messiah had   
insisted on dragging her there with her friends that day.  
  
"Amen to that, sister!" agreed Usako, equally sunk in the soft couch,  
clanking her cup of hot chocolate to Robin`s in a gesture she had   
seen her own parents do whenever they shared a drink.  
  
"Why do you suppose lightning struck so strong this time of year,   
anyway? I thought it was during summer that thunderstorms occured."   
wondered Robin.  
  
"Most likely that was Makoto. She went up there to claim her power   
boost, remember? It`s my guest that this lightning was her doing."   
answered Usako.  
  
"Indeed it was." came Naru`s voice as she opened the front door of   
the lodge and walked in. Her messiah clothing was gone, she was once   
again her ordinary self.  
  
"So where is she?" asked Robin before stuffing her face with a piece  
of toasted bread.  
  
"Still up there, she has a lot to work out. And so do you both, you   
know. You turn has arrived, girls, you two must now go through your  
own trials." said Naru, taking away their cups of hot chocolate.  
  
"Must she always break our fun?" mumbled Robin to herself.  
  
"Okay... where do we go?" asked Usako, getting up to stretching her   
arms and legs.  
  
"Far from here... but you won`t be walking there. You only need to   
sit down in front of the fireplace, it`ll be the best place to   
proceed." explained Naru. Robin and Usako looked at each other   
with confused expressions on their faces.  
  
* * *  
  
Umino smiled when he reached the badly damaged factory where he knew  
his friends lived. It looked as if it were going to crumble at any   
second, although it had been thoroughly reinforced by its current   
residents. Their tactic was simple: keep unwanted people away by   
having their place look like a ruin. And it worked well.  
  
He pushed the button by the small out of the way door, a shrill   
buzzing sound announcing his presence. A hidden camera whirred as   
its lens focused on the visitor`s face.  
  
"Who`s there?" came a badly distorted voice from an intercom.  
  
"Gurio Umino. You guys are expecting me." replied Umino.  
  
"I`ll let you in... if you can answer me these questions three!!!"   
claimed the voice. "Question the first..." started to announce the   
voice.  
  
Without further concern for these guys` weird sense of etiquette,   
Umino slammed his fist onto the intercom.  
  
"Okay, nevermind, you obviously know how we work around here."   
replied the voice. A different buzzing sound, lower and louder,   
indicating that the door was unlocked.  
  
Walking in, Umino met once again the familiar decor of the computer   
hacker/scavenger group which came to call itself the "grave robbers"  
because of their habit of going through the dumpsters of computer   
stores to rummage thrown away parts. Many stores would rather just   
discard unsold models rather than to offer them at bargain prices   
and lower market prices. It was this very reasoning which had created  
the grave robbers, one of the great enemies of the larger computer   
stores.  
  
Not much had changed in the general look of the place, it was still   
filled with a wide array of disconnected computer parts, arcade   
games rebuilt from motherboards fished out of dumpsters, a fridge   
and pantry stuffed in a corner to maximize workspace, loads of anime  
posters covering every inch of the bare concrete walls, dozens of   
power connectors and heat sinks, and a home made computer network   
that was the pride of the three members of the grave robbers,   
Toraji, Miyoji and Tatsunosuke.  
  
"Sorry about Miyoji being a bit overprotective of our home, Umino."   
called out a short, nerdish looking teenager who could have easily   
been mistaken for Umino`s brother with the possible exception of his  
hair, which was dark black. Sitting up from his computer equipped   
with a permanent internet link, he took a pause long enough to greet  
his friend which he hadn`t seen in a long while.  
  
"I wouldnt`need to be if SOMEONE hadn`t been so careless during his  
last hack! I barely had time to reroute the signal so they wouldn`t  
find us, and they came way too close to this place this time! They  
could discover us if you don`t work more carefully!" accused Toraji,  
a slightly taller boy with light brown hair and soft blue eyes.  
  
"And exactly HOW was I supposed to know YOUR firewall wouldn`t   
hold?!?" snapped back Miyoji.  
  
Umino counted himself lucky to have known Miyoji for so long- he was  
his entry gate into the lair of the grave robbers, as they rarely   
let anyone in outside of their ranks.  
  
"Okay, break it up you two!!!" came the commanding voice of another  
man, one in his mid twenties. "Hey, Umino, long time no see!" came   
the deeper voice of the tallest, oldest and sneakiest of the trio,  
Tatsunosuke. Although he had the looks and athletic abilities that   
could have made him the star of his high school and the most popular  
guy all around, his passion for all things electronic had sent him  
on the lonely path of the computer geek where he hooked up with his  
two partners Toraki and Miyoji, the only two hackers whose skills   
came even close to matching his own. Tatsunosuke was also the buffer  
of the group, keeping the constant personality frictions between his  
friends to a tolerable level.  
  
"Hi guys. So did you manage to get those parts I asked you for?"   
asked Umino, hugging his boosted laptop under his arm, his reserve   
of material close at hand to trade what he came for.  
  
"We certainly did, Umino. The first half was child`s play." answered   
Toraji.  
  
"Yeah, we already had plenty of those in stock." added Miyoji,   
receiving a slap behind the head from Toraji for opening his big   
mouth. As good a hacker as Toraji was, he certainly had no sense  
of business or negotiation.  
  
"I think you will be quite pleased with what I got for you regarding  
the easy stuff." said Umino as he plugged his computer into their   
network and downloaded a small selection of senshi pictures, the   
very ones Ami had scanned for him that day.  
  
"Interesting." went Miyoji.  
  
"You got a deal there. The easy to get parts are yours." agreed   
Tatsunosuke.  
  
Umino smiled. That was the easy part, but he knew the value of the   
one piece he REALLY needed. It was going to be hardball getting them  
to admit they even had one, and harder still to get his hands on it,  
but he wasn`t afraid. Ami had given him something that was going to   
win them over for sure.  
  
* * *  
  
Throwing their fist up in the air, both girls shouted out their   
power-up phrases:  
  
"TERRA SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!!!"  
  
"SATURN SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!!!"  
  
The usual golden glow engulfed Usako and Robin, taking away their   
shirts and skirts to replace them with the mighty fuku of the sailor  
senshi, defenders of love, justice and life. When the glow if their  
transformation subsided, they saw that Naru had changed as well into  
the messiah. All of them were ready.  
  
"Please sit down in a lotus position." she urged them both, and   
joined them on the luxurious persian rug that graced the hard wood   
floor. "Now I want you both to relax, to allow yourselves to come   
to understand the nature of reality. Open your minds to the   
possibility, and let your spirit soar."  
  
"But... I`m no good with relaxation!" objected Robin. "Remember   
what happened with that 'sounds of the ocean' tape Makoto gave me   
for christmas?"  
  
Neither Usako or Naru could hold in their chuckles as they remembered  
seeing Robin burst out of her bedroom late one evening and throw said  
tape as far as she could out the window while she screamed her head   
off to the effect of that she couldn`t possibly relax with that   
incessant noise in her room. All the senshi had laughed their heads   
off, and only Naru had been able to calm down the tense Robin with   
her healing powers.  
  
"Don`t worry, Robin, I`ll help you relax." said Naru as she took her  
friend`s hand and infused her gently with soothing golden energy   
which she directed to her nervous system, tuning it to her precise   
harmonics so that she released her excessive stress level. The soft   
moan Robin let out told Naru that she had indeed succeeded.  
  
After a few moments, there was no more laughing or talking in the   
ski lodge. Only three young women lying on the floor of the living   
room in front of the fireplace, their eyelids fluttering as their   
minds entered the state of consciousness that science called "Rapid   
Eye Movement" and foolishly assimilated with mere brain functions to   
regulate cerebral hormones during the dream state.  
  
So much more than this was happening.  
  
* * *  
  
"I don`t think this is working Naru. I`m sorry, but I`m just not   
relaxing." said Robin as she stood up from the floor, feeling sad   
that she failed in her effort.  
  
"I wouldnt`be so sure about that, my dear friend." said the messiah.   
Robin looked at her and noticed that she looked absolutely radiant   
in a golden aura just like the first time Naru revealed herself as   
the chosen one to guide the senshi.  
  
"You look so beautiful, Naru... so radiant..." said Robin in awe.  
  
"As do you, Robin." observed Usako. Robin looked at her and noticed  
the superb swirling colors around her other friend- she could see   
auras!!! Looking at her own body, she noticed that she looked   
somehow... different as well. And then she looked to the floor, and  
she saw that the three of them still sprawled there, sound asleep.  
  
"What happened? Why am I here... and there at the same time?!?" she   
asked, going to try and to wake herself up, but Usako stopped her.  
  
"This is your astral form travelling outside your body... if you go   
too close to your body, you`ll be snapped right back inside and you  
will have failed." explained Usako.  
  
"But... won`t I die if I leave my body?" asked Robin, afraid of this  
strange experience.  
  
"Not as long as your spirit remains linked to your body... and that   
link is a very strong one, my friend." told her the messiah as she  
pointed out the vibrant silver cord linked Robin`s spirit and body   
from heart to heart. "It can stretch as far as you will go without   
ever getting thinner. You need not be afraid, you`re quite safe   
here."  
  
"So... where do we go?" wondered Usako.  
  
"Usako, you will be going to Tokyo. There your soul will know what   
you`re looking for, even if your head doesn`t acknowledge it quite   
yet. As for you, Robin, you will come with me."  
  
"To go where?" asked Robin.  
  
"Up." replied Naru. Robin looked up at the roof of the lodge, but  
Naru shook her head. "Not THAT way up... you`ll understand when we  
get there."  
  
The two of them vanished from the sight of Usako`s spirit form who   
found herself alone. She had done this before in the future under   
the guidance of Sailor Pluto, so she knew what she was doing; she   
gracefully left contact with the ground and floated in the air,   
going through the ceiling and out into the sky. On her way up, she   
saw Sailor Jupiter on the mountain top, lost in thought as she gazed  
into the sky. Usako noticed her fuku was much more beautiful now,   
and felt great joy for her friend.  
  
Somehow in this form, her emotions were more true, unhindered by the  
confines of a limited human brain or the dictates of society. She   
felt the love that she had for her friend. She also felt the love   
she had for her other senshi friends, glowing and beautiful. She   
then thought of her parents, how much she loved her mother   
Neoserenity and her father Endymion. The image of Seiya then came   
to her as well, and once again this joyous feeling of love   
overwhelmed her soul. She truly felt alive.  
  
"Usako..." came a voice in the distance, a voice that seemed   
familiar even if she had never heard it before. "Come to me, scarlet  
lady..." called the voice. Feeling no malice in this voice, she   
decided to follow it to its source, which she was sure came all the   
way from Tokyo.  
  
* * *  
  
After spending half an hour haggling over some minor pieces of   
computer hardware and various electronic components of lesser value,   
the trio of scavengers came to the last item on Umino`s list,   
although it was one they hesitated on letting go.  
  
"This is where we have to draw the line, I`m afraid..." said Miyoji,  
holding on to a component made incredibly valuable for its capacity   
to handle data transfers and its usefulness in converting visual   
signals into radio signals. Only the most performant television   
transmission systems had one of those.  
  
"You`d have to give us something amazing to convince us to let you   
have it." added Toraji.  
  
"We could easily get upwards of half a million yen for that baby."   
commented Tatsunosuke. He seemed very sad not to be able to let his   
friend have it, but there was a limit to how much help he could   
afford to give anyone.  
  
"And what if I DID have something out of this world for you guys?   
Something unique that you can`t even buy?!?" offered Umino, a large  
grin on his face. He got their attention all right, and they were   
quite curious to see what he was talking about.  
  
"It doesn`t hurt to take a look at what he has..." proposed Toraji.   
The other two agreed.  
  
Umino punched a few buttons on his laptop and turned it around so   
that they may see the video sequence that had been recorded by   
Sailor Mercury`s powerful laptop computer: a fully digitized   
rendering of the battle of Mercury against the evil youma Ganeshya,   
and the final attack of Mercury against the tigress centaur with   
her ultimate power, the Absolute Zero Deep Freeze. The three of   
them were struck with awe as they watched the single absolute zero   
molecule freeze the youma`s body at near absolute zero temperature   
instantly, only to destroy it with the crushing pressure of the   
resulting temperature shock. Umino knew what Mercury fans these   
guys were, and getting that video sequence from Ami was the best   
way to get what he wanted from them.  
  
"That... was... BEYOND AMAZING!!!" said Toraji, his eyes wide open.  
  
"Oh, I never dreamed of being able to SEE this with my own eyes!   
They`re still trying to remove the leftover ice where that battle   
occured!!!" added Tatsunosuke.  
  
"I think this would be absolutely perfect for... THE SHRINE!!!" said   
Miyoji.  
  
"THE SHRINE! THE SHRINE! THE SHRIIIINE!!!" the three scavengers   
screamed.  
  
"The... shrine?" wondered Umino.  
  
"That`s right, my friend. A shrine dedicated to the most beautiful,   
sexiest and certainly most BRILLIANT of all the senshi... Sailor   
Mercury!" announced Tatsunosuke, taking Umino by the arm and   
dragging him to a hidden room where he saw the most incredible   
arrangements of assorted Sailor Mercury toys, news clippings, fan   
art and other knick-knacks possible and impossible. All of those   
around a life size mannequin of Sailor Mercury in a designer fuku   
based on the scout version of her costume.  
  
Umino couldn`t believe his eyes. Her knew they had a website that   
was the most complete over the web, having the best information on   
Sailor Mercury and plenty of images of her... but this display of   
undying fandom gave a new meaning to the word "loyalty".   
  
"We wanted to add a video display to the shrine, and we know exactly   
what to put on it now!" said Miyoji, tears coming to his eyes.  
  
"All thanks to you, my friend... remember, you`ll always be welcome   
to visit the grave robbers at any time of day or night!!!" added   
Toraji.  
  
"Take it my friend... you more than deserve it!!!" concluded   
Tatsunosuke as he gave Umino the one piece of hardware he really   
wanted into his hands. He had finally obtained the last piece of   
hardware the senshi needed to implement Usagi`s clever plan.  
  
Ami would be very pleased with his success.  
  
* * *  
  
In her spirit form, Usako was unhindered by the confines of her   
physical body and the laws of physics- she traveled as fast as she   
wanted, gliding gleefully through the skies and admiring the   
landscape below. She was taking her time to enjoy this marvelous   
experience, though, as she could have reached her destination at   
the speed of thought, faster still than actual teleportation.  
  
The winds of the astral seemed to be taking her somewhere, though,   
and she followed this lead that was unmistakingly guiding her to the  
voice she had heard earlier. She floated unseen in the air above the  
streets, flew unstopped through the buildings themselves and reached  
her final destination unchallenged, landing gracefully on the snow  
covered grass of a tranquil graveyard.  
  
She knew this place well... it was here that Naru had been buried   
temporarily before she had been resurrected, the final resting place  
of Hotaru after she was slain by Ronmar, the same place where   
someone else had been buried, someone who had a very special link   
to Usako...  
  
"Usako..." came the voice again.  
  
Walking slowly, Usako made her way to a small but tasteful   
gravestone engraved with a name she knew all too well.  
  
Hino Celeste.  
  
Her previous incarnation. The original Sailor Mars, the murderous   
senshi responsible for the death of Kitechnuma Jendra and Sailor   
Jendra and in doing so of the doom of an entire planet. Usako   
couldn`t help but feel a shudder at the sight of the grave, the   
legacy of her tainted soul.  
  
And at the same time she felt sad, so sad at how this once kind and   
dedicated girl fell into the clutches of the Prime, turning her into  
an instrument of mass destruction. In a way, she was responsible   
herself, she couldn`t help but feel.  
  
"That`s where you`re wrong, my dear friend." whispered the soothing   
voice. Usako turned around and saw a woman she`d never met before   
yet was so very familiar. Standing at roughly the same height as she  
was, she had amazing short fiery red hair and shining black eyes.   
Wearing proudly the uniform of Sailor Mars, there was no doubt as   
to who she might be.  
  
"Celeste... but how?" wondered Usako who walked to her, and   
discovered that she could touch the other soul as if they both   
were physical beings.  
  
"I`m the part of you that expresses regret. That feels sorrow,   
guilt, and wishes it could take back what cannot be undone." said   
Celeste, taking Usako`s hand in hers.  
  
"Why did you call to me?"  
  
"I can`t answer that here. But if you accompany me, I`ll show you   
why." offered Celeste. Usako nodded and silently accepted. Both of   
them vanished, leaving instantly for some other destination of   
Celeste`s knowing.  
  
* * *  
  
"Well... this is... err... it`s so... wow!" uttered Robin, incapable  
of finding any better words to describe what she saw.  
  
She had never imagined that such a place could exist. A long and   
majestuous hall entirely made of the purest marble, the floor   
checkered black and white while the columns along the sides were   
entirely black with gold veins gracing their surface. In the   
distance, she could make out an altar and some kind of tapestries   
hanging on the wall behind.  
  
"I`m glad you appreciate the beauty of this place, Robin." said the   
messiah as she appeared besides Robin.  
  
"Where are we anyway?" wondered Robin, looking all around her. She   
had never seen such a beautiful hall, not even in the image   
archives of Saturn Station Beta.  
  
"This is a manifestation of the physical aspects of reality as we   
know it... the sephira at the bottom of the tree of life, the   
temple of Malkuth." explained Naru.  
  
"Malawazza???"  
  
"I`ll give you lessons on metaphysics later, but for now all you   
need to know is that you will rise through levels of consciousness   
your newborn soul does not even phatom yet. This will be an   
exploration of yourself and of the universe all at once." said Naru.   
"But it`s not my role to guide you all the way there, only get you   
as far as the first step."  
  
"How will I know I`m on the right track?" asked Robin, afraid of   
getting lost along the way.  
  
"The archangels will guide you. The first one is called Sandalphon.   
Just go to the altar over there, he already awaits you." answered   
Naru, pointing to the other end of the great hall.  
  
So Robin walked down the hall, her each step echoing in the peaceful  
silence of Malkuth while the messiah watched upon her, hopeful her   
friend would succeed in her soul quest. She slowly advanced to the   
altar made of two large cubes sculpted of the same black marble as   
the floor and columns, marveling in the perfection of its cutting.   
She looked at the three immense tapestries on the wall; one of the   
represented an hermaphrodite being holding a wizard staff in   
triumph, surrounded by an eagle, lion, taurus and angel. The second  
was a lobster crawling out of a moonlit pond, crawling towards two   
howling dogs. The last one was three praying people looking up to   
the sky as an angel from heaven trumpetted the moment of final   
judgement.  
  
"I never had any dreams so weird, that`s for sure..." thought   
Robin out loud. At this moment, a large flame formed behind the   
altar, turning into an immense angelic being robed in shifting   
colors of brown, black, olive and yellow. The radiating holy light   
of the great archangel was too bright for the young woman to see   
its face.  
  
"Oh... hi there, Sandalphon, is it?" asked Robin, shy before this   
great being who incarnated all the aspects of the earth element.   
"I can`t help but notice you dress in autumn! Did you ever consider   
switching to summer colors to bring out your complexion?" she   
suggested.  
  
The archangel`s flame grew taller and brighter as a response.  
  
"Then again, what do I know?!?" quickly blurted out the young woman   
who felt foolish giving fashion advice to an eternal being.   
Sandalphon silently made a motion for her to follow him, which she   
did without hesitation. Somehow, it felt right to do so. Pulling   
on the tapestry in the middle, the drawing represented in the tarot   
deck as "The World", he revealed to Robin the passage to the next   
sephira, Yesod, where the great archangel Gabriel would await her.  
  
"Thank you." whispered Robin before entering the passage. Although   
he used no words, Robin could have sworn he gave her the nicest   
goodbye she had ever heard.  
  
* * *  
  
Makoto felt incredible. She was truly enjoying her walk down the   
mountain path, secure in the knowledge that she had even more power  
at her fingertips than ever before. Her soul quest had been a great  
success, allowing her to discover that she had greater strength in   
her loving heart than in her muscles. The child of Jupiter wanted   
to share this happiness with her friends.  
  
Arriving at the ski Osaka family ski lodge, she met Naru who was   
waiting for her on the front porch with two cups of hot coffee.  
  
"I take it from all that thunder crashing down and the smile on   
your face that you have realized a bit more on the nature of your   
soul today." suggested Naru, offering Makoto a cup.  
  
"Thank you." she said, nodding her head to agree with her friend.   
"It was both mystical and spiritual."  
  
"I`m happy for you. I have some hot food ready inside, if you`ll   
follow me."  
  
"I would have prepared a meal myself, if I had found enough time...   
you really caught us off guard with this, you know." replied Makoto,   
looking a bit sad.  
  
"You cooked for us many times already, it`s about time we returned   
the favor!" said Naru, slowly opening the front door not to make any   
grinding noises. "Just don`t talk too loud, okay? The others   
haven`t... returned yet." added Naru, poiting to Sailor Saturn and   
Terra sound asleep on the floor, their spirits far away from the   
living room floor where their bodies laid.  
  
"Oh... I`ll be careful." whispered Makoto, smiling as she watched   
upon the peaceful faces of the two girls travelling deep in the   
astral plane. She wondered to what amazing places they might have   
gone, what people they might meet. Only Robin and Usako could answer  
that when they would return.  
  
* * *  
  
"That`s GREAT, Umino!!!" said Ami as she unpacked all the electronics  
and computer hardware pieces her friend had gathered for her with   
nothing more than some pictures of the senshi she had taken herself.  
  
"That was nothing, Ami. I know the right guys, and they worship the   
ground you guys walk on." explained Umino who judged preferable to   
keep the Sailor Mercury shrine part to himself. That sort of detail  
had a tendancy to freak out those concerned, as a general rule.  
  
"Let`s get to work right away, we have a lot to do." said Ami.   
"Usagi, I`ll also need your help to get these special items ready   
in time for tomorrow. Mamoru, I`d like you to take this transmitter   
and move around town in your car so we can test the reliability of   
the reliability of the equipment under different conditions. Shingo,  
do you think you could check out the location for the best spot to   
operate from?"  
  
"No problem." replied Mamoru as he took the small test emitter built   
in a hurry by Ami.  
  
"Sure thing... would you like me to take you home, darling? You look   
tired." said Shingo who noticed that Laurella wasn`t feeling so good.  
  
"Yeah... I`d like that. I have to be ready for tomorrow... you guys   
are counting on me." replied Laurella in a totally emotionless tone,   
her face devoid of expression. Her head understood that she would   
play a key role in Usagi`s plan and that exposing Black Baron`s plan  
wide open could mean the difference between life and death for   
millions of people- but in her heart, she felt nothing.  
  
"Okay, let`s go." he said, taking her hand and leading her out of   
Ami`s luxurious place.   
  
Moving through the long corridor on Shingo`s arm, the young girl   
felt lonely. Ever since her empathic ability had risen, she had   
always been surrounded by a constant flow of feelings, emotions,   
states of mind, but now nothing, just silence. At first it had   
been soothing, healing even, but now it was turning into torture,   
slowly maddening her one second of quiet after the other.  
  
Although her empathy would have normally picked that right up, she  
had not the slightest idea that she and her boyfriend walked right   
by a pair of spirits, Usako and Celeste. The two of them looked   
upon the young couple and followed them from a distance even though   
they wouldn`t be able to see them if Celeste and Usako were right   
in front of them.  
  
"They look sad." observed Usako.  
  
"She faced the most horrible being she could ever meet, and felt his  
presence more strongly than anyone could have through her special   
senses. After so much horror, her heart just gave out, her emotions   
shutting down." explained Celeste. "But as hard as it was on poor   
Laurella, it`s even worse on Shingo. He`s been her anchor as she   
let herself glide aimlessly in a world that just stopped making   
sense... his mind is growing weaker from such strain, and his   
strength dwindles even as we speak. He will not hold long like   
this."  
  
"I feel so... sorry for them." appologized Usako.  
  
"For something you couldn`t stop? Something you couldn`t prevent?   
Something FATED to happen?" pressed on Celeste, pointing out the   
futility of her guilt.  
  
"I just can`t help it. I should have been there." said Usako,   
looking at the young couple walking away from them.  
  
"But you where there a thousand years ago, weren`t you? Or should I   
say... I was there. For all my good intentions, that didn`t stop me   
from killing them both." reminded her the fallen Sailor Mars.  
  
"It was... my fault... that they died that day." Usako accused   
herself. Celeste`s voice went up a notch as she objected her.  
  
"So you got manipulated by a conniving mind-control freak a lifetime   
ago- are you going to let THAT stop you from repairing what the   
Prime destroyed himself? Will you waste my chance at redemption   
because of needless guilt? Shingo and Laurella will ALWAYS be   
together, it doesn`t matter that either of them dies, that one of   
them gets turned into a bloodthirsty fiend by his worst enemy or   
that Laurella loses her emotions- their souls are BONDED and will  
ALWAYS find each other. They are your friends, Usako, and you can   
either help them or feel sorry for yourself. Your choice." told her   
Celeste, opening her eyes to the obvious facts she was too blind to   
see.  
  
"I can make a difference in their life, this time around... help   
them be happy and grow old together... see them raise my cousins..."   
sighed Usako, realizing that in this life, she indeed had the power   
to make a difference.  
  
"I`m glad you see it this way now..." said Celeste, smiling again.  
  
"Will we ever see each other again, Celeste?"  
  
"Everyday in the mirror... just look into your own eyes, you`ll see   
me there." answered the manifestation of Usako`s old soul who hugged   
her and gave her a sweet kiss. Then everything around her was bathed   
in blinding golden light, the whole world disappearing from view as   
her spirit was yanked back into her sleeping body.  
  
Usako had finally managed to free herself of this millenium old guilt  
she carried over the brutal deaths of Laurella and her lover   
Kitechnum Jendra.  
  
* * *  
  
Following her upwards progression on the many sephirot of the tree   
of life, Robin had so far been through three of them, entering   
through Malkuth where she was shown the way by the archangel   
Sandalphon, then reaching Yesod, domain of Gabriel and on to Tiferet  
where she met briefly with Raphael. Continuing her ascension, she   
had reached the midway point in between Tiferet and her ultimate   
goal, the first sephira of Keter, the greatest light in all of   
existance as she`d been told on her way up.  
  
From her current position, however, she wasn`t too sure if she hadn`t  
gotten lost on her way there. She was floating in something which   
looked a lot like the old stereotyped vision of heaven, with clouds   
strewn about and strange beings resting on them, their shape somewhat  
reminiscent of winged humanoids. They seemed totally uninterested in  
her, though, and failed to respond to her when she addressed them.  
  
"Excuse me, is this the right way to... what`s the name again...   
there`s a 'K' in there, I know it, it`s just on the tip of my   
tongue..." she mumbled, as she tried to remember. The being nearest   
to her didn`t budge, utterly failing to even notice her.  
  
"KETER! That`s the name... it`s a miracle I remembered that, all   
those mystic names just never seem to stick in my head... I`m better  
at remembering song lyrics and that sort of stuff... HEY, are you   
LISTENING to me?!?"  
  
Obviously, he was not. Robin couldn`t as much as guess if he could   
SEE her at all. It was becoming increasingly clear that her   
surroundings were getting more and more... cryptic in nature,   
defying the conventional human modes of thinking. Moving around   
would certainly require more imagination than logic, more intuition  
than reason. Emptying her mind of any preconceived ideas she was   
hauling around, Robin allowed her spirit to do the thinking...  
  
"DAATH!" she yelled as she felt a spark of understanding cross her   
relaxed mind. "Gabriel mentionned the place... not quite a sephira,  
not quite a world, a mystery all its own... so that means I still   
have a bit of travel to go... there!" she thought out loud as she   
looked up to the "sky" and saw there a faint haloed disk, like the  
sun shining through the clouds on a brisk winter day.  
  
"See you around, angel boys!" said Robin, waving to them as she   
soared upwards at the speed of thought.  
  
The enigmatic being whom she had spoken to looked to her for a   
brief instant- but no longer. Some mysteries were just not meant   
to be solved, it seemed.  
  
* * *  
  
"Something is happening." whispered Yaten to his brothers as they   
were taking a small break in between two songs they were recording   
their latest album. The silver haired singer was being careful to   
cover his microphone so that their producer and recording crew   
wouldn`t hear him talk.  
  
"Feeling this dreadful darkness spreading again? Newsflash: we don`t  
need your empathy to tell us things are doing bad!" snapped back   
Seiya.  
  
"No, not evil this time, more like an infusion of light from several  
candles lit in the night." tried to describe Yaten. The joyous look   
on his face was showing that he was experiencing some much needed   
relief from all the evil Tokyo had been subjected to lately.  
  
Taiki and Seiya looked at each other- they knew that this could   
only come from the sailor senshi of the earth, the defenders of   
light whom they had encountered a few times already.  
  
"You think we`ll see the senshi again anytime soon?" asked Seiya,   
hitting his drum sticks against one another and keeping the rhytm   
of the previous song they recorded. Unconsciously, Yaten and Taiki   
tapped their foot on the floor to follow Seiya in harmony.  
  
"I`m counting on it." replied Taiki, grinning as he anticipated   
meeting once again with Sailor Mercury.  
  
"Okay guys, we`re all set to keep going with the next one!" came the  
voice of their producer through their earphones. They interrupted   
their conversation right then and returned to their music, playing   
their instruments and singing without a second thought to the   
horrors yet to come.  
  
* * *  
  
She had finally made it. The newborn soul of the young Robin had   
returned to the place where everything began, the glorious light of   
Keter, the first sephira from which all others had been born.  
  
"It`s... glorious..." uttered Robin, finding her words a pale   
impression of the amazing array of sensations she was going through.   
Like a single hydrogen atom before a gigantic sun boiling in   
everlasting nuclear fusion, she was awed and humbled before this   
marvel beyond all time and space.  
  
Even though she`d never been there before, she knew she was home.  
  
"Like a billion voices singing in perfect harmony... please let me   
be part of you..." whispered the young girl as she felt her astral   
form change shape- having kept her physical form by a subconscious  
effort so far, her human female form was fading rapidly before the  
one-in-all to that of a single point of conscience, pure thought   
and spirit, a soul unbound from the shackles of physical reality.  
  
Suddenly, out of the billions of voices, she heard one she   
immediately recognized.  
  
"Robin... you came, my daughter."  
  
"T... Technuma? DAD?!? I`m here, dad, wait for me, I`m coming!"   
she said, the tiny point of golden light she`d become flying to   
join in with the countless souls already there. But for some reason,   
something wouldn`t let her, an invisible force halting her like a   
wall of unseen resistance.  
  
"Dad? Why won`t they let me join you?" she asked.  
  
"Your time is not now, my angel. You still have a long life ahead of   
you, but remember, I`ll always be here. We can have eternity together  
when the time is right." whispered the serene voice of Technuma   
Saturn in her mind, resounding with complete and unconditional love  
for her. She could feel his every thought and emotion, and she knew  
right there how proud he was of her, how dedicated he had been to   
create her a living work of art perfect in every way... she was  
touched to tears, which she would have shed if she had a body right   
now.  
  
"I miss you so much, father... I love you!!!" she said as she felt   
the pressing urge of her silver cord pulling insistently so that   
she return to her body.  
  
"I love you, my dear daughter... for as long as the stars shine."   
was Technuma`s last message to his daughter before she was violently   
pulled back as her silver cord snappped back like an overextended   
rubber band released suddenly.  
  
* * *  
  
Both Robin and Usako awoke on the floor of Naru`s lodge, the fire in   
the fireplace almost burned out with little more than sparkling red   
ashes left. As they looked at each other, they saw that both their   
senshi fukus had been upgraded with the matching breastplates,   
shoulder plates and leg protector thigh extensions where their   
senshi designation had been engraved in sublime kanji lettering.  
  
"I... I spoke to him, Usako! I was finally able to tell dad how   
much I loved him!" said Robin as she rushed her friend to hug her,   
tears of joy running from her eyes.   
  
"And I was able to relieve myself of an ancient burden... I`m free,   
Robin, free!!!" replied Usako who joined her friend in her tears.  
  
"Hey, you think our weapons have been improved too? Let`s see!!!   
SOULSTAR, COME TO ME!!!" yelled Sailor Saturn, ribbons of ruby   
color swirling around her hand to form a superb glaive of solid   
ruby identical to her predecessor`s weapon of choice. It had   
indeed been enhanced as well, platinum highlights covering both   
the shaft and the cutting edge of the blade.  
  
"HARBINGER, I BID YOU COME!!!" joined in Usako. Black ribbons created   
in her hands her sacred weapon Harbinger, an obsidian scythe. It was   
now superbly decorated with runes and designs traced in the purest   
bronze this planet had ever seen.  
  
"Congratulations to the two of you!" said Naru as she returned from   
the kitchen with Makoto who transformed into Sailor Jupiter to join   
in on the celebration, pulling out Mjolnir and brandishing it up in   
a sign of victory.  
  
"We`re ready to face whatever may come!!!" said Jupiter.  
  
"To destroy all evil!!!" added Sailor Terra, clashing her scythe   
to Jupiter`s warhammer in a resounding echo of newfound power.  
  
"And to make love triumph over all!!!" concluded Sailor Saturn,   
connecting her glaive to the two other sacred weapons and releasing   
an even greater echoing crash as she did so.  
  
"SAILOR SENSHI!!!" the three of them went all at once.  
  
"Even though this day has been a complete success for these   
three..." silently thought Naru, "I`m afraid my work is still far   
from complete... the biggest challenge still lies ahead for me."  
  
  
To be continued...  



	48. Default Chapter Title

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 48  
  
JUST A DREADFUL FEELING  
  
  
Umino removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, revealing to Ami the  
remarkable green eyes he usually shielded behind the thick lenses   
he required to see. She was marveled at how handsome the nerdish   
boy looked without them, and discovered one more of the many reasons   
for Naru being so taken with him.  
  
"All done." she said, tightening the final screw in the last one of   
the many gadgets the two of the them had built over the day.  
  
"Thank god we`re done in time. You`re amazing, being able to design   
these things so fast." replied Umino, smiling and fighting back a   
powerful yawn.  
  
"When Usagi came to me with her idea, the designs just popped in my   
head. Getting the pieces I needed was a big help, Umino. I couldn`t  
have done it without you." she added. She put her screwdriver in   
her toolbox and officially ended the mad building race.  
  
"The pictures you gave me allowed me to get them, Ami." he said.   
"So I guess you`ll finally take a break from work and enjoy the   
evening, huh?"  
  
"No way! I have a school project to work on with Taiki, I`m meeting   
him in an hour." said Ami.  
  
Suddenly, Umino remembered something. He had met Taiki earlier that   
day, and had totally forgotten about that.  
  
"I have something for you here." said Umino as he opened his laptop   
and recalled the image file he traded with Taiki. "I got this at the   
coffee shop where I ate breakfast this morning... I met Taiki, and   
he seemed pretty taken by one of the Sailor Mercury pictures I had."  
  
Ami was intrigued. Why would Taiki be so taken by a picture of her   
powered form? He was usually so composed, so calm...  
  
"This is what he traded me for it. Those Sailor Starlights you`ve   
been meeting when you fought the blighted ones, I take it?" asked   
Umino as he showed Ami the picture of the three young women   
warriors.  
  
"Yes, that`s them all right..." she mumbled, fascinated by the   
image, especially by that of Sailor Star Maker. She wondered why   
of all people Taiki would have the picture of these three   
relatively unknown women, but she was so lovestruck by the   
beautiful brunette that she didn`t even pursue that line of   
thought.  
  
"Hum... Ami? Are you still here with me?" asked Umino when he saw   
that his brainy friend was almost oblivious to the outside world all  
of a sudden. "Ami? AMI!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
The soft classical music CD turned rapidly in the stereo system as   
its laser read thousands of digital bytes to turn them into soothing  
Mozart. Setsuna loved his music, even though she had thought him a   
spoiled brat when she had met him in person a few hundred years   
before. Then again, her memories of time were not all continuous-   
maybe she would meet him in the future after going back in time,   
or perhaps it was in her life before she was reborn after she dared   
use her forbidden attack to make time itself stop... regardless,   
the teenage prodigy had made a pass at her, and it was one of the   
rare times she`d ever lost her temper. Few people have ever seen   
Meioh Setsuna slap anyone, and her expression at the moment was   
a frightful one indeed.  
  
She sat in the living room of the large house which had been   
unofficially dubbed the "Outer senshi headquarters" by Usagi. It   
had become a place that she really called home now, and she loved   
spending time alone there. Michiru and Haruka had gone out for a   
doctor`s appointment, Hotaru needing her very first vaccination   
shot.  
  
Through the darkness of the outside, two highbeams pierced the dark   
veil of night. Setsuna saw them reflect through the living room and   
knew that Naru was coming back with Robin... a more powerful Sailor   
Saturn, a young girl who knew more about herself and the nature of  
life itself.  
  
Once again, everything was going just as she predicted. Time was   
unfolding the way it was meant to, exact to the smallest detail.   
She took a sip of her green tea and smiled when her young senshi   
sister entered the house, her face blank from fatigue.  
  
"How was your day?" asked Setsuna.  
  
"It was one to remember... (yawn)... I went to places of the   
spiritual I didn`t (big yawn) even knew existed, and I even (really   
big yawn) heard dad`s voice again..." explained the young girl, her   
eyes holding open by force of will alone.  
  
"You`re so tired, why don`t you go to sleep?" offered Setsuna. Robin   
nodded and walked upstairs to her bedroom slowly, holding on to the   
handrail as if her life depended on it.  
  
Setsuna looked back to the open door and saw Naru standing there.  
  
"Don`t just stand there, friend messiah, come in."  
  
"Thank you." replied Naru, taking off her winter coat.  
  
"What`s on your mind?" asked Setsuna.  
  
"As if you didn`t know." snarled Naru.  
  
The guardian of time felt offended by her tone of voice, but that   
last remark was right on the mark: she knew exactly what the messiah   
wanted to discuss.  
  
"My soul ascension is no concern of yours, I`m afraid. My destiny   
is well traced, my role defined by the tides of time. I know   
precisely what must happen."  
  
"Do you?" wondered Naru. Her expression had become harsher, quite   
obviously irritated by the implications of Setsuna`s comments.  
  
"Time has already decided its course, I can only follow it. I can   
no more stray the course than a river can change its course."   
replied Setsuna, punctuating her phrase in a way to put a final   
end to the discussion. She knew what Naru would reply to that, of   
course. She always knew. "Your powers can do nothing to change   
that."  
  
"You don`t know what I`m capable of, you arrogant bitch!" snapped   
Naru, letting her anger flow freely. Setsuna was taken aback- that   
was NOT supposed to happen.  
  
"WHAT did you say?" she replied, trying to compose herself not to   
let her surprise show.  
  
"You heard me! You think rivers are fixed... but they don`t go in   
a straight line all the time, you know, they have little cascades,   
swirls, eddies..." explained Naru, slowly walking towards Setsuna   
and shoving her tea cup from the coffee table where it was set. It   
smashed on the floor, spilling the green tea on the carpet.  
  
This was NOT supposed to be happening, thought Setsuna.  
  
"Damn right! Call it an incoherence, an eddie, a freak occurance...   
you see, this sort of thing comes easily to the more powerful   
beings of this universe... and if we can do small things easily..."   
she said dramatically, suddenly changing her shirt and skirt into   
a full senshi fuku identical in shape and cut to the other senshi`s.   
"Now imagine the implications of the LARGER deviations!!!" she   
screamed, summoning a swirl of golden energy between her hands.  
  
Seeing the raw power crystallize into the messiah`s sacred weapon,   
the glaive Ouroboros, the guardian of time felt her chest squeezing.   
None of this had, should or was ever supposed to happen, not now or   
anywhen. She was caught totally off-guard, and would have to fly   
this by ear, not relying on temporal knowledge.  
  
For the first time in her life, she felt panic because she didn`t   
know what to do.  
  
"DEFEND YOURSELF!!!" screamed Naru, bringing down her weapon in a   
deadly arc, narrowly missing the dodging Setsuna and ripping apart   
the cusions of her sofa. Knocking over her coffee table and the tea   
kettle it supported, she nearly flew across the room.  
  
"PLUTO SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!!!" she yelled, turning into Sailor   
Pluto. Her garnet battle staff Eternity formed in her hands, ready   
to block the deadly assault of the messiah. Ouroboros` razor sharp   
blade clashed violently against the solid garnet shaft, Pluto`s   
arms shaking under the sheer power of the blow.  
  
"Naru, stop it!" pleaded the senshi of time. She didn`t wish to hurt   
the messiah, and besides, this wasn`t even supposed to be happening.   
As far as she could tell, she was meant to be driking green tea   
while having a pleasant chat with Umino`s girlfriend all the while   
listening to some Mozart music.  
  
So much for that vision of the short term future. Now she was   
fighting for her life against the raging daughter of the goddess,   
the megami no musume. As much as Osaka Naru had been helpless   
against youma attacks in the past, she had turned into a ruthless   
fighter capable of standing up even to a sailor senshi such as   
Sailor Pluto.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Pluto, parrying strike after lethal   
strike, the echoes of the two gemstone weapons echoing in the outer  
senshi`s house. The blows dealt were so powerful that the impact   
traveled painfully through Setsuna`s body and made the ground   
itself shake.  
  
Furniture was being broken, decorations smashed, nothing was   
spared by the winds of battle.  
  
Then, Sailor Pluto hesitated for a moment, wondering why all this   
rucus wasn`t waking up Robin upstairs... that`s when Naru surprised   
Pluto by making a low sweeping strike with her left foot and knocking  
her flat on her back, Eternity slipping from her fingers and clanking  
down on the floor. Fighting to catch her breath back, she saw the   
messiah looming over her, Ouroboros pointed directly at her throat.  
  
"And sometimes... the river floods over, its raging waters destroying  
all in its path." she heard Naru tell her as the cold blade touched   
her throat.  
  
She tried to find a way to reverse this situation, but there was   
nothing she could do. Her heart was beating faster than when she   
was having her daily run, her muscles frozen in panic. Fear had   
control of her mind, clouding her spirit and choking her soul with   
the promise of an impending death she just never saw coming because   
it wasn`t meant to happen this way.  
  
Then, just as tears formed in her eyes, she understood. Nobody was   
supposed to know everything, not even her.  
  
"Well done, my friend." came the soft whispering voice of Naru to   
her ears.  
  
After blinking once then twice, everything in her home was back to   
normal. No furniture was demolished, her crystal animal set was   
intact, the coffee table wasn`t missing a leg and even her green   
tea cup and kettle were safely resting where she set them herself.  
  
"I... I don`t understand..." said Setsuna.  
  
"We beings of power have ways of making things happen." said Naru,   
smiling. "All an illusion."  
  
"So... none of it happened then."  
  
"Well not quite... it really did happen, but in your mind." said   
Naru.  
  
Setsuna understood what her friend meant, that none of what she   
saw would have any impact on the world. That was why she couldn`t   
see it in the future earlier, because it never really happened.   
And yet... she felt different somehow.  
  
"What was the point of this, then?" asked Setsuna.  
  
"Just transform and you`ll see." said Naru, putting her boots and   
winter coat back on.  
  
Setsuna did so- to her great surprise, her fuku now had extra armor  
pieces and a full breastplate. She quickly summoned Eternity and was  
baffled by the beauty and skillful craft of the adamant enhancement   
on the shaft and striking surface, as well as on the garnet orb  
itself.  
  
"But... none of this happened!" mumbled Setsuna, baffled of this   
blatant aberration to the flow of time, but which somehow felt like   
the right thing to have happened.  
  
"Just call it a gift from a friend, Setsuna... see you tomorrow!"   
said Naru, closing the front door and walking to her car.  
  
Turning to a mirror close by, Sailor Pluto looked at the improved   
senshi fuku she had received thanks to her soul ascension- she   
silently thanked Naru for teaching her this lesson in humility.  
  
"Maybe I have become arrogant... but there`s still time to   
change." she thought.  
  
* * *  
  
Amidst the many warehouses located around the Poldzer Triangle   
complex, a lone man was busy discreetly surveying the premises for   
possibles places to hide a team of several people.  
  
Skillfully avoiding night watchmen teams, Shingo went from one   
warehouse to the other until he found what he was looking for: one   
of them was located conveniently close to the three main buildings,   
yet showed no sign of recent activity. He took a peek inside and   
noticed it was a storage facility for containers of some of some   
older computer system parts that the data transfer research   
department was wondering how to use. As computer science grew so   
fast, this place was rapidly turning into a white elephant no one   
wanted to associate themselves with.  
  
"This looks just perfect." thought the young man. He left as   
silently as he came.  
  
* * *  
  
High atop the nearby Poldzer Triangle main building, Crystallite and  
her loyal protector Fenris awaited. The tension in the room was   
getting to be unbearable as the daughter of Beryl fiddled with the  
half-complete black crystal, feeling its sharp spikes on the   
sphere`s exterior and the smooth cold surface where more pieces   
would be joined.  
  
"Things are unraveling rapidly. The quickening has begun, I can feel  
it." she kept repeating over and over in an almost obsessive manner.  
  
"Stop dwelling over this. Things will happen asthey will, you know   
that better than I do." reassured the manwolf, sitting next to her   
at the large glass table where she had spread a deck of tarot   
cards. Admist them were also the cards of Gallagher representing   
the last remaining six senshi and the messiah.  
  
"Now YOU`RE the one telling ME not to panic? This is interesting.   
Just last week you were the one telling me not to trust Black   
Baron..." she snarled in sarcasm.  
  
"And what do you want us to do? Turn back and fight him? Because you  
know I WILL fight him if you ask me to." whispered the manwolf in   
his most soothing voice. It still sounded like a menacing growl,   
but Crystallite had learned to interpret his voice over the years   
and she felt his desire to reassure her.  
  
"We can`t... either we go along with the darkness or it consumes   
us whole along with the light. My path has been set... I can`t go   
back. Never go back." she replied, a tear going down her face.  
  
Just as her single tear touched the glass surface and splashed on   
the nearby messiah card, a looming shade entered the luxurious   
penthouse. Both the crippled girl and her hulking lover knew who   
it was.  
  
"About time you returned... are you going to continue your mission   
now?" asked Crystallite, giving the nightmarish figure an angry   
stare.  
  
"Yes." echoed a displaced voice, one without any specific source.  
  
In an agile motion, the red-haired girl picked up the seven cards   
and spread them in a fan to Black Baron so he might make his choice.  
  
Instead of picking any one card, he greedily took the whole hand,   
laughing as he looked at all seven cards. His evil laughter sent   
a soul chilling tingle down her spine. Her gloomy intuitive feeling  
was right- the situation was indeed heading to critical mass.  
  
* * *  
  
Mamoru`s car pulled up in the Tsukino house`s driveway, the young   
man taking his very tired fiancee back home after a very long day   
planning for the senshi preemptive strike. He looked at her falling  
asleep in her seat and felt so proud... when he first met her, she   
was acting in an immature fashion, thinking not about the future   
and building her life, but only about food, manga, video games and   
boys.  
  
Like a normal teenage girl, essentially.  
  
But everything she had gone through over the years had changed her,  
like an iron in a forge, making her stronger, more resiliant.  
  
Beryl.  
  
The frail girl was now a powerful warrior.  
  
Wiseman.  
  
The young child had matured into a gorgeous woman.  
  
Ronmar. Daemonfang.  
  
So much evil she had faced, always coming out victorious.  
  
Gallagher. The Prime.  
  
Nothing could stop her, not a conniving manipulator older than   
humanity itself or a forced journey through a hellish outer plane.  
  
Aebonite.  
  
And he would always be there for her. His love, his one true love,   
his only love. He died for her a thousand years before and he`d do   
it all over again if it could save her.  
  
Black Baron.   
  
Another test for the rabbit of the moon, one he was sure she`d   
overcome, like all the ones before.  
  
Getting out of the car, he opened the passenger side door and   
proceeded to removed her seatbelt, making sure not to wake her up.   
He gently carried her inside where Ikuko welcomed him with a warm   
smile.  
  
"She had a really hard day I see." said Ikuko when she saw Usagi   
sleeping in her boyfriend`s arms, cuddling up against his chest.  
  
"You should have seen her. She was consumed by her work, it was a   
sight to behold. She was beautiful, she was fueled by her passion."   
he replied, looking at her peaceful smile. He thought she was even   
more beautiful in her sleep.  
  
"Would you take her up to her room, please? She needs to rest   
now." asked Ikuko.  
  
"It will be my pleasure, miss Tsukino."  
  
"Please... you`re engaged to be married to my daughter... call me   
Ikuko!" replied Usagi`s mother, smiling warmly.  
  
"All right, I will!" said Mamoru, returning the warm smile. He   
gently walked up the stairs, careful not to awaken his dearest   
love, setting her down softly on her bed and covering her up with   
the covers after taking her shoes off. The small silhoette of a   
three year old toddler snuck up on him- Chibi Chibi looked at   
him with sleepy eyes, her bedtime past a long time ago already.   
She was wearing the cutest pyjamas Usako had bought for her, the   
pink one with little winged red hearts all over.  
  
"You look tired honey... want to sleep with Usagi?" he whispered   
to her.  
  
Chibi Chibi nodded sheepishly, her mind still clouded from waking up  
after sleeping less than two hours. Mamoru picked her up and tucked   
her up next to his sleeping girlfriend where she went right back to   
her healing slumber, craddled to Usagi with a large grin. Satisfied  
to see them asleep, he went back downstairs, ready to leave.  
  
"Going home so soon? It`s barely 10:30!" said Ikuko when she saw   
him in the lobby, zipping up his coat.  
  
"Well... since Usagi is sleeping, I really should..."  
  
"I`ll have no such thing! I`m not letting you leave this house on   
an empty stomach, Mamoru, you`re so good to my dear Usagi that you   
deserve to get back some of the kindness you gave her... I have   
some cake I made today, would you like some?"  
  
A growling sound from his stomach answered faster than he could   
find the words. Both of them laughed, Ikuko going to prepare some   
coffee as Mamoru removed his coat. Going to the living room, he   
noticed a video tape on the coffee table.  
  
"CHRISTMAS SHOW" was written on it in Usagi`s handwriting, along   
with a cute little rabbit head. He knew what was on that tape, and   
he wanted to watch it again. He never got tired of seeing it.  
  
After turning on the television and VCR, he put the tape in and sat   
on the couch, feeling warm inside as the screen conjured up past   
images of a special christmas pageant at Chibi-Usa`s school where   
Usagi had agreed to help her with her act. Both dressed in lavish   
traditional kimonos with matching fans, they danced and sang with   
as much grace as a future queen and her crown princess could ever   
be expected to have. The blonde teenager and her pink haired   
daughter from the future had been amazing at that show, and had   
received a well deserved ovation.  
  
Absorbed completely by the tape, he never even heard Naru pulling   
up the driveway and dropping off Usako. She came in the house and   
noticed that her future father was there, watching something on   
television.  
  
"Watcha' watchin?" she asked playfully, jumping over the couch   
and landing right besides him, her scarlet eyes sparkling like   
stars. Mamoru was startled by her unexpected arrival, but he   
quickly calmed down.  
  
"The two ladies of my life." he replied, pointing to the screen   
where Usagi and Chibi-Usa were making an encore performance for the   
delighted public with another beautiful song.  
  
"Ooooh I remember that! I had so much fun with mom that day..." said  
Usako, smiling as she recalled the pageant.  
  
"You were both so wonderful that day... I love both of you as much   
as life itself, never doubt that, Usako." said Mamoru, looking her  
in her eyes. She saw there that he meant every word, and she felt   
just the same towards her parents. No words were exchanged after   
that, but they both knew exactly how they felt for each other. She   
put her arm around his waist and placed her head on his shoulder,   
looking the tape play by a moment of happiness frozen in time.  
  
When Ikuko returned a few minutes later with coffee and cake, she   
took a few moments to bask in the glow of that tender embrace   
between father and daughter. She was more certain than ever that   
this young man would make her daughter the happiest woman in the   
world the same way Kenji had done for herself.  
  
* * *  
  
Dawn arose in Tokyo.  
  
Perhaps the last one.  
  
Shingo placed a cup of strong, black coffee on the kitchen table   
right besides the breakfast plate of his older sister, the young   
woman lost in thought.  
  
"You look worried." he said, sitting across the table from her.  
  
"Why shouldn`t I be?" she replied, closing her eyes and placing her   
head in her hands.  
  
"You planned all of this so carefully, you accounted for   
everything." he said.  
  
"The unexpected always happens. That`s one thing I`ve learned, and   
you can`t account for that. Only pray you can react fast enough   
when it does happen." said Usagi, sighing deeply.  
  
"I have faith in you, sis. You always pulled through before, and I   
trust you again today. I`d follow you through hell if you told me   
our path went through it."  
  
"Thanks for trusting me with your life, brother... I`ll try and   
live up to your faith in me."  
  
"I know you will. With your plan in effect, we`ll put an end to all   
of this madness." replied Shingo, finishing his coffee.  
  
"Yes... one way or the other... it ends tonight." concluded Usagi   
dramatically.  
  
* * *  
  
Fenris awoke to find that his mistress Crystallite was already up   
and running... well, so to speak. She was dressed already in her   
most intimidating crimson dress, golden runes decorating the long   
flowing garnment with very wide sleeves that would facilitate any  
spell casting she might need to do. She stood in a fragile balance   
in front of the large bay windows of the penthouse, holding on to   
the window`s frame for stability, her weakened body threatening to   
let her down at any moment.  
  
"Milady, you shouldn`t be making long efforts without me!" urged   
the manwolf as he hopped out of bed, coming up behind her and putting   
his arms around her waist. She let herself rest against his huge   
body, resting from the strain of staying up on her own for so long.   
She could feel a crushing pain forming in her chest where the once   
murderous Fenris Wolfang had clawed her furiously in a murder attempt   
funded by a mysterious man who had never returned to claim his   
contract be completed in full.  
  
"You look good with only those boxers on, my big bad wolf..." she   
whispered, putting her hands on his and caressing his short coal   
black fur.  
  
"You`re tense, my love... why all the stress?" asked Fenris.  
  
"Because of this." she replied, taking the half complete black   
crystal from her robe pocket.  
  
"Again this crystal... why is it so important anyway? Do you not   
have enough power as it is? Aren`t strong enough to conquer this   
world and make it bow to your will?" wondered Fenris.  
  
"Yes... I am... but I want something more... to go beyond what   
mother did, and show this entire UNIVERSE the power of darkness!!!"   
said Crystallite, raising her stare to the dark clouds swirling in   
the sky atop the Poldzer Triangle.   
  
"Fenris... my love... it ends tonight."  
  
* * *  
  
"Excuse me miss Neko, we just got a call from someone who says that   
you wanted to see her... something about a wine stain on her   
blouse." went the voice on Cathra`s intercom.  
  
"Yes, I did have a small accident with a glass of red wine in a   
restaurant... I told the young lady to call me so we could arrange   
for financial compensation. Is she still on the line?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, miss Neko, she`s on hold on line number three."  
  
"I`ll take her, thank you." replied Cathra, switching over the line   
to her phone. "Yes, I`m so glad you called!"  
  
"I would have called sooner, but I`ve been quite busy." said   
Laurella over the phone.  
  
"I can imagine, honey, aren`t we all?"  
  
"I was wondering if I could drop by today and we could discuss this.   
I don`t have class today, and it would really arrange me to replace   
that blouse as soon as possible." asked Laurella.  
  
"Of course, darling, but I`m about to go into a big meeting with the  
high brass of the company, but if you come by I can have someone   
take you for a grand tour of the Poldzer Triangle, how does that   
sound?" offered the human looking youma with her sweetest voice.  
  
"That sounds nice... could my boyfriend come too? He`s studying in   
biotechnologies and heard about your top of the line labs."  
  
"Sure, bring him along. Make a special day of it, you`ll find our   
cafeterias to have really amazing food! What`s your name, by the   
way?"  
  
"Serena. Serena Moonrabbit." lied Laurella, careful to conceal her   
true identity.  
  
"Beautiful, Serena, I`ll inform security that two guests will be   
coming by for the grand tour later today. I`ll see you after my   
meeting." concluded Cathra, hanging up. She laughed, amazed at how   
easy this all had been.  
  
"By bringing over the senshi to the triangle, Black Baron will have   
to push ahead faster than he anticipated... and Crystallite will be   
forced to tip her hand and play this by ear, making hasty   
decisions... oh yes, dance, my puppets, dance!!!" thought Cathra   
as her human features faded back into her true catwoman form, her   
auburn fur, feline eyes and pointed ears formed. She purred in   
delight at the thought of all the power she`d forcefully grab from   
those who thought her to be the pawn, never the master.  
  
"Finally it will happen the way it was always supposed to... it   
ends tonight." she whispered.  
  
* * *  
  
"You look worried Yaten." observed Taiki as he loaded the Three   
Light`s instruments into their van. He looked at his brother who   
stared blankly over to the dark clouds gathering above the sector   
where he felt darkness growing like venomous mold.  
  
"It`s almost time... we'll be needed again by our sister senshi."   
said Yaten.  
  
Seiya locked the door to their appartment and looked over at the   
clouds as well. "So it`s about to happen, right?" he asked.  
  
"Events have reached critical mass..." replied Yaten. "...it ends   
tonight."   
  
* * *  
  
Wearing the best looking clothes they owned, Shingo and Laurella   
looked up at the ominous shape of the Poldzer Triangle towering   
above them. Standing in the central plaza, they were totally   
dwarfed by the massive steel and glass buildings.  
  
"I`m reassured you came with me, Shingo, I wouldn`t want to go in   
there alone." said Laurella as her boyfriend held her by the waist,  
her back turned to him. She took a long puff on her lit cigarette,   
knowing she`d have to drop it before going inside.  
  
"I agree, it looks gloomy from here with these black clouds... is   
it just me or are they swirling around the place?!?" wondered   
Shingo.  
  
Laurella looked up and felt a tingle- something cold and dark was   
indeed here, but her dysfonctional heart quickly pushed out this   
hint of empathic receptivity. Her soul was not yet ready to feel   
such a foul emission.  
  
"It`s so dark here... there`s a good chance I might need the   
Emerald Knight`s help to get out of that place alive, you know."   
she replied.  
  
"I`m always there for you, no matter what, you know that."  
  
"Yes, I do." replied Laurella, still no sign of emotion in her voice.  
That coldness made him feel horrible- like he had failed her. His   
sister kept telling him that he couldn`t have stopped Black Baron on   
his own and would just have been killed trying to prevent him from  
attacking Sailor Jendra, but still... he felt guilty anyway.  
  
"Come on, let`s go in. We have a lot to do." said the young woman,   
placing her purse shoulder strap comfortably in place so she could   
easily reach in for the precious content. She flicked off her half   
consumed cigarette and headed for the main reception, Shingo   
following her loyally.  
  
A few moments later, two figures stepped from behind a small group   
of trees decorating the middle of the Poldzer Triangle central plaza.  
The tallest of these two men whose clothing was black and reminiscent  
of desert nomads picked up the cigarette and brought it to his mouth  
after pulling off his hood. His traits were quite attractive as far   
as blighted ones went, his dark tan skin and latino features being   
well completed by his small mustache and well groomed goatie. He also   
had a very visible pair of scars shaped as an 'X' over his left eye,   
a sign of past battles. Taking a puff on the cigarette, the smaller   
blighted one came to him carrying on his back a sword as large as   
himself.  
  
"And why not now, Velasquez?" he asked in a weak raspy voice. "One   
of them can barely defend herself, I would have triumphed for   
certain!"  
  
"Calm down, you`ll get your chance at the senshi... Black Baron has   
promised you so, hasn`t he? Hasn`t he approved of my choosing you?"   
replied Velasquez, inhaling the soothing tobacco smoke he hadn`t   
tasted in so many decades... ever since he had failed in Black   
Baron`s special training, and the arts of darkness had devoured   
his soul whole, weaving it anew to Black Baron`s whim.  
  
"Yes, indeed he has." agreed the short swordsman.  
  
"Just a little more patience..." said Velasquez, tossing the   
finished cigarette down and crushing it under the heel of his hard   
leather boot.   
  
"...it ends tonight."  
  
  
To be continued...  



	49. Default Chapter Title

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 49  
  
AND THE MASKS FELL OFF  
  
  
  
"And this, is one of our highly advanced bioengineering labs to your   
right." explained the security guard who led the young couple in   
their grand tour of the Poldzer Triangle. "It`s one of our most   
sought after services, our customers ranging from pharmaceutical   
corporations to research hospitals dealing in genetic defects and   
hereditary diseases. As you will surely understand, this is also   
one of our highest security areas."  
  
"Of course." agreed Shingo. Distracting the guard for a moment with   
a very pertinent question regarding the equipments used by the labs,   
he allowed Laurella to reach into her purse and grab a tiny   
electronic gadget which she swiftly planted in an unseen place   
underneath a photocopy machine where it could operate without being   
noticed.  
  
That`s another one, she thought. This was going very smoothly indeed,  
the two first towers of the Poldzer triangle already seeded with over  
thirty such miniature detectors supplied to her by her genius friend  
Ami. With the tour of the plaza almost over, the main building now   
only required a detector or two in a few other areas to complete   
Usagi`s master plan.  
  
To turn the entire Poldzer Triangle into a radar for evil beings   
and dark forces which they could use to flush out Black Baron and   
destroy him for good.  
  
The guard`s cell phone rang- answering it, he gave the young   
visitors the message his boss had just told him, and the one Shingo   
and Laurella had been waiting for.  
  
"Vice president Cathryn Neko is ready to see you now." he said.  
  
They smiled.  
  
* * *  
  
Sneaking her way around a security guard station, Sailor Moon deftly   
took advantage of every shadow she found, each obstacle that could   
conceil her from view. She looked up and saw the ghastly silhouette   
of the three towers of the Poldzer Triangle ripping through the sky,   
tearing itself a place among the dark clouds in the most unnatural  
manner.  
  
"I think I`m there." whispered Sailor Moon in her wrist communicator,   
holding on tight to the walkman-sized piece of hardware she`d been   
sent to put into place.  
  
"Yes, you`re right on target." replied the voice of Sailor Mercury   
through the tiny communicator. "Hold your position until we`re ready   
to go."  
  
"Okay, but hurry! I don`t know how long I can remain here, we don`t   
know precisely what routes the guards take when they make their   
rounds." replied Sailor Moon.  
  
"Not to worry. Pluto just reached her location and assured me that no  
security guards would disturb us for the whole operation." said   
Mercury with confidence.  
  
"And did she also say that no blighted ones, or worse, would sneak up   
on us?" wondered Sailor Moon. The silence at the end of the   
communication line did nothing to reassure her. "Remember that she   
doesn`t let us know of EVERYTHING she foresees."  
  
"We have to trust her judgement at some point. She does what she   
does for the best of reasons, and for the good of us all. Mercury   
out."  
  
"Sometimes I wonder..." mumbled Usagi after she turned off her wrist   
radio.  
  
Usagi felt a bit uncomfortable with the whole situation. Everything   
was going without a single hitch, a little too well to her own taste.  
By now she`d gotten used to sudden reversals and unexpected returns,  
so this flawless execution was getting her nervous. Setsuna being   
once again cryptic certainly didn`t help her.  
  
"The others should be in place around the plaza by now." thought   
Usagi as she took a look at her watch. She was right of course,   
Sailor Pluto, Jupiter, Terra and Saturn having hidden themselves   
around the plaza with four more transmitter relays similar to the   
one she was nervously fidgetting right now.  
  
The wait was killing her.  
  
* * *  
  
"So what happens now?" asked Umino as he looked over Sailor   
Mercury`s shoulder to her laptop which she had set on a crate of   
obsolete 100 megabytes hard drives. Well hidden in the old warehouse   
Shingo had spotted for them, Ami, Umino, Naru and Endymion were   
awaiting for their friends to be done in their respective tasks.  
  
"We have to wait until Laurella sets the last detector. We can`t   
function to full efficiency without a complete network of those.   
Even worse, we might not get any results at all." explained Mercury.  
  
"We have to be patient." added Naru who hugged Umino. "Things will   
happen fast enough once we`re done, trust me."  
  
"This waiting is eating me alive." complained Umino. "Can`t we do   
anything in the meantime?"  
  
"We can actually." replied Mercury, punching a button on her   
keyboard. Instantly, the laptop speakers began transmitting the   
conversation of Shingo, Laurella and Cathryn Neko. "Laurella left   
her transmitter on so we could monitor the situation at all times."  
  
"This should be interesting..." said Umino out loud.  
  
"Yeah, we`ll know exactly what`s going on!" added Naru.  
  
"And be ready to intervene if things go wrong for them." thought   
Ami, nervously fidgetting with the zoom-in feature of her visor.  
  
"I`m right here if that happens." concluded Endymion, stroking the   
handle of the sword held in the sheath at his belt.  
  
* * *  
  
"As I said the other night, miss Moonrabbit, I`m deeply sorry about   
ruining your blouse with my glass of red wine." said Cathra as she   
wrote a check to cover Laurella`s expenses in replacing her stained   
blouse. "I do appologize for the inconvenience."  
  
Laurella took the check and put it in her purse, grabbing the last   
detector at the same time. Now all she needed was one final   
distraction to set it up.  
  
"It was a really great tour you provided for us, miss Neko. And I   
must say your office has an amazing view on the surrounding area."   
observed Shingo who was standing next to the window and looking   
outside.  
  
"One of the many advantages of having a high position in a large   
corporation, my friend!" she said, suddenly taking notice of how well  
shaped Shingo`s body was. Laurella took notice and quickly set the   
detector in place.  
  
"So you like the view?" asked Cathra as she stood up from her desk   
and walked over to Shingo. Oh yes, she thought, he`s REALLY nice.  
  
"I love it. You can see really far away from this height.... I   
really like what I can see from here" replied Shingo, not noticing   
how the human looking youma was checking him out.  
  
"So do I." whispered Cathra with a smile. "Tell me something, my   
young friend... you`re so young, vibrant and attractive... what   
are you doing wasting your time with a girl who obviously has no   
emotions for you?"  
  
Shingo snapped back to reality, looking at her in shock. Had she   
really just insulted his girlfriend?  
  
"You can do much better than a cold fish like her. I for one think   
we could have a lot of fun together." she added, licking her lips   
seductively.  
  
"Stay away from me." Shingo said in a cold voice that barely hid   
his rage. Walking away from her, he took Laurella by the arm and   
led her out of the office. "We`re leaving now, darling, I think we   
overstayed our welcome."  
  
Cathra felt her anger flaring once again as the young couple left.   
Who was that man to dare reject her? To turn away her animal   
magnetism, her feminine wiles, her unmatched sex appeal? This was   
no ordinary man for sure, as Fenris had been the only male before   
that to resist her powerful youma charm.  
  
"Wait a minute... that knight who was protecting Sailor Jendra,   
who seemed to be obviously in love with her... it had to be HIM!"   
she thought. "Well... I guess he`ll be killed along with the rest   
of the senshi when they find Black Baron. I get to kill that guy   
and avenge myself against him without even having to lift a finger!   
Oh, how sweet that`s going to be."  
  
Cathra thought long and hard about what would happen next. She knew   
that since the fallen senshi and her knightly boyfriend were leaving  
the Poldzer Triangle now, they had certainly finished whatever   
scouting mission they had been sent to do. They would find that the   
entire place reaked with Black Baron`s stench, and make a frontal   
attack to force his hand, thus pulling Crystallite in the conflict   
at the same time. After this battle of titans would come to an end,   
it wouldn`t matter who wins anyway, because once the dust will   
settle, whoever remains standing would be too late to stop her from  
taking her rightful place as ruler of this wretched world.  
  
Cathra knew she was meant for better things, her creator Thorelia   
had always told her so. The faceless sculptress had always been so   
kind to her, so full of compliments and attentions. She had even   
gotten her this special assignment as Fenris` aide, thus sparing   
her fate of being canon fodder at the battle at Osaka where dozens   
of youma had met a grisly death at the hands of the sailor senshi.  
  
Thorelia... her creator... her mother... that bastard Black Baron   
had killed her along with Dokuryo, the reptile man who had fallen   
in love with the cursed artist. She had come to see them as her   
parents, two people who loved her genuinely. The only people she   
had loved... and she had never even told them how she felt before   
the grandmaster of darkness burned them alive in black hellfire.   
Cathra felt heavy tears flow from her eyes, and she wiped them off  
immediately.  
  
Black Baron would die for what he had done. Was he even alive,   
anyhow? It didn`t matter. She`d see him get torn apart and shredded   
to nothingness. If the senshi couldn`t do it themselves... she`d do   
it in person with the complete black crystal that she would steal   
from Crystallite.  
  
Revenge upon the Emerald Knight, Fenris and Black Baron... that   
would be a nice addition to total world domination.  
  
"I just love being on the side of the string that does the pulling."   
she thought out loud. Pushing down her sadness and swallowing her   
pain, she laughed maniacally.  
  
* * *  
  
"What`s happening?" wondered Haruka when she saw Michiru bolting to   
her feet with a confused look on her face, relaxing in her couch   
deep in her reading only seconds before.  
  
"I`m getting a strange feeling of immense power!" she uttered.  
  
"Where? Is Black Baron about to attack the others?!?" asked Haruka.  
  
"No... it`s not that... the power is not evil, and it`s... very   
near..." she said, running up the stairs and heading without   
hesitation to little Hotaru`s room. Haruka followed her in a hurry,   
worried that Michiru`s intuitions were usually right about these   
things.  
  
What they saw shocked them out of their minds; instead of seing a   
young baby in Hotaru`s crib, they saw a fully grown young teenage   
girl with the glowing sigil of Saturn burning bright on her   
forehead. She had grown so suddenly as to tear apart her baby   
clothes, and she had nothing more than her small wool sheet to   
cover her naked body.  
  
"What... happened?" said Haruka through her disbelief.  
  
"The danger is close at hand. The silence may yet come to us." said   
Hotaru, calm and composed despite the sheer gravity of her words.  
  
"What danger?" asked Michiru.  
  
"The evil one`s minions have almost succeeded in their mad quest,   
and will complete it before this day finishes and the next one   
begins. There will be no tomorrow if this happens." calmly explained   
Hotaru.  
  
"Can we do anything to stop this? Even without our powers?" asked   
Haruka.  
  
"This is not about power. It`s about light, darkness and the   
intricate link between the two. There is still much that none of   
you understands as of yet, and without that knowledge I will be   
forced to bring the great destruction myself." said Hotaru. Raising  
her hand in the air, she silently transformed into the fully powered  
Sailor Saturn, her soul power fuku totally black and not reflecting  
any light. In her hands formed her sacred weapon, the obsidian   
glaive of the silent messiah, the mighty and lethal Silence.  
  
"Gather all the senshi, it matters not that their powers have   
fainted. Without each one of them present in the final confrontation  
to come, I will have no choice but to destroy this world myself."   
said Hotaru with disturbing calmness in her expression.  
  
"I`ll call them right away." said Michiru. "Get the car ready Haruka,   
we`re going to the Poldzer Triangle right now."  
  
* * *  
  
Black Baron`s form shimmered and appeared in between two warehouses   
of the Poldzer Plaza area. Next to him were two powerful blighted   
ones, the short swordsman with the sword too large for his dwarflike   
stature, as well as the mysterious Velasquez who`d been given his   
name back by his master just recently, the greatest reward a blighted  
one can aspire to.  
  
"Are you ready to follow the plan?" asked the ungodly voice of Black  
Baron to Velasquez.  
  
"Which one? There seems to be many!" he replied as a matter of fact.  
  
Black Baron gave off a snicker. "Indeed there are. Just do as you   
were told." he instructed to his agents before waning into a shadow   
and disappearing again.  
  
"You heard him, go now. You`ve been waiting for this a long time, and  
now it`s your chance to prove what you can do." instructed Velasquez.  
  
"Finally! It`s about time!" grunted the short warrior who ran to the  
warehouse where he knew he`d find a senshi, the messiah and her   
boyfriend. More senshi would follow soon after he made himself known  
to them of course, but that was just the way he was hoping things   
would turn out.  
  
* * *  
  
"I can`t believe that BITCH!!!" fumed Sailor Moon who was listening   
in on the communicators left open to allow everyone in the team to   
know what was going on. "How dare she insult my friend like that?   
Laurella saved me from myself when I almost drowned in my own   
sorrow... and she made things worse by making a sleazy pass at my   
brother! I can`t believe her NERVE!!!"  
  
"Usagi, calm down." came Mercury`s voice on the channel. "I know   
what she said, but there`s nothing we can do about it. She`s only a   
woman, and right now it`s darkness itself we`re fighting... you   
have to keep perspective."  
  
"Yeah, you`re right..." agreed Sailor Moon, calming down somewhat.   
"But if I ever run into her in a restaurant, I just MIGHT trip and   
spill my coffee by 'accident', if you know what I mean." she added   
with a sly grin.  
  
"I knew you`d see things my way, Usagi. Now activate the unit, I`m   
ready to form the detecnet with the sensors your brother and   
Laurella seeded all over the place. Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn, Terra,   
the same applies to you all as well."  
  
"Got it." replied Sailor Moon.  
  
"Activated!" came Saturn`s voice.  
  
"Online." said Pluto.  
  
"Ready here!" said Jupiter.  
  
"Lock and load!" concluded Terra.  
  
* * *  
  
With all five detector relays in place and activated, data began   
being sent at ultra high speed to Mercury`s laptop. She put her   
special programs into place, and the powerful computer used all   
available ressources to analyze the influx of data into a coherent   
display.  
  
"It`s almost ready. You can return now, gang." said Mercury into   
the small microphone attached to her blue visor. She was feeling   
nervous, hoping that her system would work. So much effort had been   
deployed by so many people, she would never forgive herself any   
failure that might occur... but that would not be the case.   
  
"It`s working!!!" yelled Umino when he saw the map of the   
surrounding area forming and showing the flow of dark energies in   
the city.  
  
"Hum... isn`t it a bit strong around the Poldzer Triangle?"   
wondered Naru.  
  
"A little too much if you ask me... I`m not sure yet, but I think   
that Black Baron might be right..." started Mercury when a loud   
crashing noise interrupted her.  
  
Naru and Umino turned around, feeling their heart stop for just a   
second when they heard the heavy metal doors of the warehouse being   
forcefully swung open. Endymion pulled his sword out swiftly, ready   
to fight with the reflexes of a trained fighter. Sailor Mercury   
wasn`t surprised because the laptop data, which her superior   
intellect had interpreted before it was even fully converted to   
graphic form, had warned her of the blighted one`s arrival.  
  
What really frightened her was that Black Baron was out there,   
moving in on one of her friends.  
  
* * *  
  
"This thing certainly seems a bit tighter every time I strap it on."   
thought out loud Mizuno Akane as she put on her old leather battle   
uniform colored in black and shades of deep red. She then slipped on  
the matching black mask, and concentrated a few instants to feel her  
powers flow through her body again.  
  
Sparks of blue power surged from her chest, radiating in her arms   
and shooting down her legs. Lifting her hands, she spread apart her   
fingers and shot small arcs of dark blue lighting which stuck various  
objects in her bedroom. Suddenly defying gravity, they began floating  
around freely. Waving her hands around like an orchestra conductor,   
she directed their flight into a circular vortex of gliding   
knick-knacks.  
  
"Feels good to have the mojo flowing in my veins again." she thought   
out loud.  
  
"So you`re not going to heed my warnings regarding Black Baron`s power,  
are you?" came a deep voice at her bedroom door.   
  
Akane looked behind her and saw the silhouette of Mitchell Dreadborne   
standing there in the shadows... her new boyfriend Ronmar, former   
dread lord of darkness. He was wearing his usual selection of black   
clothes and unnecessary dark shades.  
  
"I`m not about to stand idly by as my only child gets slaughtered. I   
don`t care if I must die tonight, I`m not letting Black Baron   
hurting my daughter!" said Akane without unlocking her jaw, her   
fists clenched tight.  
  
"I expected nothing less of you, Akane... or should I say Quartzite?"   
replied Ronmar, a faint smile gracing his lips. He simply loved to   
see his girlfriend be so determined, ready to give her life to   
protect her child.  
  
"If you`re here to stop me, Mitchell, you`re not going to convince   
me. You`ll have to physically restrain me to keep me from going   
there." she said in a calm, measured voice, sparks of blue energy   
surging from her hands for added effect.  
  
"I`m not here to stop you." told her the dread knight. "I think I   
finally understand the nature of my former mentor`s powers of   
darkness now... I just might be able to help you."  
  
Akane smiled under her mask. With her eyes, she silently thanked him   
and showed him just how much she loved him, running in his arms and   
embracing him tenderly. Resting her head on his chest, she sighed   
and hoped everything would turn out all right in the end.  
  
"Let`s go help your daughter now." whispered Ronmar in her ear.   
Before she could ask him which one of their cars they should take,   
she felt something strange- not only was Ronmar`s form shimmering  
and melting into a thick fog with a very spicy smell, she was   
transforming into fog as well. Her consciousness remained intact   
as her body faded completely, but she knew she wasn`t alone.  
  
"What`s happening?" she asked mentally, having no lungs, throat   
or tongue to speak with.  
  
"When a knightmare is close enough to someone, he can take that   
person along when he shifts into fog- we`ll be there much faster   
this way." she heard him answer her by telepathy. In this form,   
their minds were linked.  
  
"Thank you for doing this with me, Mitchell. It means a lot to me."   
she told him. When she told him how she felt, she became suddenly   
aware that in this form she could feel her boyfriend`s emotions   
with crystal clarity. She was taken aback at how much he cared   
for her.  
  
"It means a lot to me too." he replied.  
  
Silently, the smoke cloud seeped through the window and disappeared   
into the sky.  
  
* * *  
  
"Stand back!" yelled Sailor Mercury as she used her sapphire bow to   
block a sword slash from the blighted one. Although his loose   
clothes conceiled much of his body, his short stumpy stature was   
still quite obvious to Amy who quickly noticed that she was fighting   
someone who was actually shorter than herself. Endymion joined her   
in, but found that the black clad warrior was just as skillful   
blocking the attacks of two fighters as of those of a single one.  
  
"Don`t worry about me, Mercury, I can fight after all." replied Naru,   
changing her clothes into the dress fuku of the messiah, complete   
with the glaive Ouroboros in her hands, its coiled snake engravings   
twirling into a lethal blade at the end.  
  
"I feel kinda useless right now." commented Umino, a bit awkward as   
he was the only one in the group without powers.  
  
"Don`t say that, honey, I`ll always be glad to have you around...   
I`d do anything for you, even give you my life if you asked me to."   
said Naru, putting her arm around Umino`s shoulders and giving him   
a long kiss. She then turned around and firmly grasped her weapon   
with both hands. "NOW LET`S KICK SOME ASS!!!" she screamed, rushing   
the evil dwarf. Umino sighed at the sight of her, beautiful,   
courageous and so compassionate to others. He truly loved her with   
all his heart. Left alone as the other three fought the monster hand   
to hand, he manned the laptop to ensure that the detecnet formed   
properly.  
  
Even with the messiah`s blade, the prince of earth`s sword and a   
steady stream of ice arrows coming his way, the dark warrior was a   
sight to behold, swinging his tall blade as easily as if it were   
made of light styrofoam despite the fact that it was taller than   
he was.  
  
"This isn`t working, he`s too good with his blade!" observed Naru.  
  
"I`ve never fought anyone so talented!" observed Endymion.  
  
"Good observation! Keep him busy while I attack him with a solid   
shot!" replied Mercury.  
  
Naru let out a loud battle yell, and swung her glaive with all her   
might, locking blades with her enemy who pushed back against her   
weapon, neither warrior budging an inch. They stared into each   
other`s eyes with fierce determination, going into a staring match   
at the same time. With the blighted one distracted, Sailor Mercury   
lowered her bow and flung it across her shoulder, freeing her hands   
for the senshi attack she would unleash. Seeing Mercury getting  
ready, Endymion stood out of her way not to be caught in crossfire.  
  
Pointing a finger in the air, she summoned a single dropplet of water   
which splashed down in a hundred ripples of sheer force that flew   
towards the two fighters.   
  
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!"  
  
The messiah dodged just in time and avoided the blast which hit   
the short fighter directly, sending him flying against the solid   
concrete wall. The Technum based water ripples faded away  
in the air, but not without leaving behind a heavy smell of humidity   
and drenching the surrounding area.  
  
"Great shot!" commented Naru.  
  
"Not really." said Mercury, pointing to the blighted one who got   
right back up, his clothes still dripping with water. He lifted   
his sword back up, having held on to it during his short flight   
in mid-air and subsequent landing.  
  
"Oh, that`s just beautiful." snapped Naru, tightening her grip   
on her weapon.  
  
* * *  
  
Running back to the warehouse where Mercury was operating, Sailor   
Moon ran into Saturn and Terra. Both were going there as well, as   
fast as their bodies would allow.  
  
"Why did Mercury sever communications?" asked Saturn, who was   
beginning to be short of breath.  
  
"Something happened, I can just feel it!" said Terra, a dreadful   
look on her face. "I`ll bet it has something to do with Black   
Baron!"  
  
"I can feel too, it`s something evil, I just know it." added   
Sailor Moon.  
  
And she was quite right. When they finally reached the warehouse,   
they were greeted by sounds of battle and the sight of the two   
senshi and their ally going head to head against the stumpy   
blighted one. The three girls almost laughed at the sight of   
him, but his unmatched skill with a sword was too frightful   
to be funny.  
  
"This doesn`t look good." commented Sailor Moon.  
  
"Let me help, mom..." suggested Sailor Terra.  
  
"Be my guest!" replied Sailor Moon.  
  
Taking a step forward, Sailor Terra produced a small wand identical   
to the one she used in her old scout form of Sailor Chibi-Moon.   
Holding it up, she stood ready to use it to attack.  
  
"Oh my god, don`t tell me she`s going to use the..." mumbled Sailor   
Moon.  
  
"PINK SUGAR HEARTS..." yelled Sailor Terra, a rapid fire of cute   
pink hearts shooting from the wand and connecting with the blighted   
one, blinding him as the hearts melting in his face.  
  
"...NAPALM!!!" she screamed, completing her power words. As she   
said the final word, the melted hearts suddenly ignited, the thick   
sticky liquid burning horribly the dark warrior who yelled in pain   
as the pink flames chewed through his skin.  
  
"What were you saying, mother dear?" said Terra smugly, blowing on   
her wand in the way a cowboy blows the powder off his gun after   
using it. All present were mesmerized by the pink fire engulfing   
the blighted one, but the flames quickly died down, leaving the   
warrior almost unscathed.  
  
As the blaze stopped, something strange occured. The blighted one   
curled himself in a foetal position for an instant, then stood   
straight up to his maximum height, which was now over six feet   
tall!!! The girls quickly realized that the blighted one had been   
absorbing the power sent to him, using it to further his own   
growth.  
  
"Damn! Well, isn`t that just prime!" cursed Terra. She got a   
crossed look from Sailor Saturn for that last remark. "Sorry, I   
just had to say that." she appologized.  
  
"Weapons in hand, everyone, the only way we can beat this monster   
is to best him with skill and finesse!" commanded Sailor Moon,   
summoning her crystal two-handed sword Avenger.  
  
"Got it!" said Terra, summoning her lethal jet scythe Harbinger.  
  
"Right on!" followed Saturn as her Ruby glaived Soulstar   
materialized in her hands.  
  
"More lambs to the slaughter." dryly commented the now much taller   
blighted one whose body was more akin to that of a dread knight   
than it was mere moments before. Skillfully spinning his long blade   
with a single hand, he pulled back his hood and removed his black   
face mask to reveal a long, thin face whose features were   
reminiscent of an eagle. "Please do not hold back, and attack me   
all at once. There would be no challenge in facing a single opponent  
at a time..." he taunted them.  
  
"Then let`s not keep him waiting." replied Sailor Moon.  
  
* * *  
  
She did not run.  
  
Not that she didn`t know exactly what was going on, she always did.   
But right now, there was something of more dire importance than the   
mere presence of yet another blighted one fighting the senshi. She   
knew exactly what would happen next- and nothing more than that.   
This was one of the few times where Sailor Pluto knew little of   
events to come, besides that they were of critical importance and   
incredibly dangerous to all those concerned.  
  
That was where she was going, yet something was bothering her.   
Something that she didn`t like at all, yet she couldn`t put her   
finger on it.  
  
Whatever it was, she would face it head on.  
  
"Hang on, Jupiter, I`ll be there in a moment." whispered Sailor   
Pluto. She thought of what was just about to happen- and it made   
her feel like crying.  
  
* * *  
  
"Somebody`s watching me." thought Jupiter as she walked back to the   
warehouse where Sailor Mercury and the others were supposed to meet.  
She looked back over her shoulder but saw no one there.  
  
Sailor Jupiter resumed walking at a steady pace, but felt the   
presence again. She turned around, but saw no one. Nobody there...   
this was strange. At this time of day, when the working day is   
finished for all the employees of Nightwolf Corporation, there   
should have been more people walking around. Security guards, at   
the very least... this was rather disturbing.  
  
She kept on walking, slower, looking left and right... she felt   
IT, getting closer...  
  
Catching a glimpse of a dark figure out of the corner of her eye,   
she jumped to the side and rolled out of the way of a silent beam   
of dark power shooting straight towards her, avoiding the deadly   
attack which detonated on a nearby warehouse wall. She got showered  
with small pellets of broken concrete, receiving many cuts and   
bruises, but she was made of sterner stuff than most people- she   
was a sailor senshi, one of the chosen few fighting to put an end   
to all evil.  
  
Jupiter didn`t even flinch as she stood up, brushing off the dust on   
her senshi fuku and looking directly in the eyes of her assailant   
who stood immobile before her.  
  
Immobile was a rather vague word in this case, as his roughly   
humanoid shape shimmered and rippled constantly in a dreadful   
manner, his burning red eyes the only truly stable feature of his   
entire body, if he had a true body at all.  
  
"Black Baron..." whispered Sailor Jupiter, recognizing immediately   
this menacing fiend from Rei`s vivid description.  
  
"Indeed." replied a loud growling voice whose source was as   
uncertain as the shape of its owner.  
  
"I`ve been waiting a long time to take a shot at you. You hurt my   
friends, in body and in soul, and I`m putting a stop to that here   
and now." declared Jupiter proudly as her sacred weapon Mjolnir   
formed in her hands. She menacingly held up the superb jade   
warhammer, adding even more weight to her words. "We received a   
lot of pain from you, and I`m here to demonstrate that it`s better   
to give than to receive."  
  
There was no response from Black Baron, save for the large black   
cypher forming in his right hand from his own shadowy substance.   
Silently, he lifted his left hand and made a "come over here" motion   
to the female warrior standing in front of him. Sailor Jupiter   
readily accepted this invitation and stood up to the challenge,   
screaming at the top of her lungs with her warhammer lifted up, she   
ran to him and swung it down upon the vile fiend who blocked her  
lunge with a swift move.  
  
Her enemy was quite solid as she could feel. Good, she thought,   
she`d be able to crush his body to a bloody pulp for all the harm   
he`d commited.  
  
* * *  
  
The blighted one looked around. Six young warriors at the top of   
their skill were trying to catch their breath, their bodies covered   
in mostly superficial slashes, although he`d gotten a few good hits   
on Sailor Terra and Endymion. They looked at him with anger burning  
in their eyes, and he loved it. He contemptously spun his now blood   
stained blade around some more, showing off his skill in a boastful   
manner.  
  
"Thank you for watching me, I so rarely get an audience that doesn`t   
die in less than thirty seconds." he mocked them.  
  
"How much power do you think he can take?" whispered Saturn to   
Moon.  
  
"All we can give him, isn`t it obvious?" she replied.  
  
"No, I mean... without bursting like an overinflated balloon!" said   
Saturn.  
  
"You mean like that arabian night tale of the djinn who was dared   
to drink all the water of an ocean?" asked Terra.  
  
"Yeah... KABLOOIE!!!" went Saturn, vividly acting out the image of   
the water-bloated djinn bursting out from the immense pressure of   
his full stomach.  
  
"I say we go for it!" approved Sailor Moon. "Okay everybody...   
all at once!"  
  
The girls smiled as they gathered their strength to activate their   
devastating attacks, powering up to use their senshi special moves.   
Endymion wished he had an attack capable of joining in the effort,   
but he was stuck as a spectator for this all-out onslaught.  
  
Sailor Moon gathered silvery energy within her hands, which she   
unleashed in a single bolt of pure force.  
  
"LUNAR SOUL POWER!!!"  
  
Sailor Mercury summoned energy on her hands to form a small harp   
of power, delicately stroking its perfectly harmonic strings to   
create a blast of icy bubbles.  
  
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!"  
  
Sailor Terra pooled from the ancestral memories of her predecessor   
to use a fiery attack which was once directed at Sailor Mars, but   
now was used again in the quest for truth and justice, a circle of   
fire forming around the blighted one`s feet and soaring up in a   
scorching pillar of flame.  
  
"MARS INFERNAL FIRESTORM BLAZE!!!"  
  
Sailor Saturn felt a new surge of power going through her body as   
she discovered a new height of strength brought on by her newly   
gained soul ascension. Massive reptilian wings of golden light   
formed on her back and shielded her entire body while a globe of   
power formed between her hands, building in power until she opened   
her wings and unleashed an incinerating streak of incredible   
destructive force.  
  
"DRAGON WINGS NUCLEAR FLARE!!!"  
  
Although she had no special shapes or names to her attacks, the   
messiah was no less powerful than her friends and she charged her   
glaive with all the power she could muster, swinging it in a swift   
move and sending forward a slashing wave like those she`d seen in   
all the anime videos she had watched with Usagi.  
  
Watching the five warriors activating all their powers at once,   
Umino freaked. He`d been following the battle closely and keeping   
tabs on the computer readouts on Mercury`s laptop, and he found   
out something the others had missed.  
  
As far as absorbing energy went, the blighted one had no limits,   
period.  
  
"NO, DON'T..." he tried to yell, but his warning was cut short by   
the speed at which the senshi activated their attacks.  
  
The evil warrior just stood there laughing his head off as his body   
was repeatedly slammed by wave after wave of elemental Technum which   
he greedily drank. His cackling only grew louder and louder as his   
body increased in size, seemingly without limits, his head and   
shoulders crashing through the warehouse`s ceiling and bringing the   
whole place down around the senshi who ran outside as fast as they   
could.  
  
"This is so not good..." yelled Sailor Moon as she ran and dodged   
falling debris.  
  
"Remind me to slap you one behind the head, Robin!" said Sailor   
Terra.  
  
"I owe you one too, little miss wings!!!" added Naru who ran   
surprisingly fast despite the many folds of her lavish dress fuku   
which was now ripped in a few places.  
  
"I don`t know how we`re going to defeat this one, guys!" said   
Mercury loud enough to be heard over the noise of the crumbling   
warehouse.  
  
Barely making it out alive, Umino came out last carrying Mercury`s   
computer under his arm.  
  
"What now?" he said, looking back at the fiend who now stood over   
twenty feet tall, his huge two-handed sword now a mere fruit carving  
knife in comparison to his immense stature.  
  
"I`ll figure something... I hope." replied Mercury.  
  
* * *  
  
"I don`t believe this..." whispered Laurella as she looked at the   
blighted one in the distance. Despite the large distance separating   
her from the battle ground, the dark warrior was now easy to see due   
to his immense size.  
  
"I know... I can`t believe I used to watch Ultraman movies and   
complain that 'nothing like THAT could ever happen." said Shingo.  
  
"The others must be fighting that abomination. I should be there with   
them." said Laurella, sighing in her helpless despair.  
  
Shingo wanted to join the battle too, but he couldn`t. He had to   
stay close to Laurella and protect her from any potential dangers   
that might arise. The words of his older sister Usagi still echoed   
in his mind: "Laurella has saved my life many times, she`s a friend,   
a confidante, a sister even. You are NOT to leave Laurella no matter   
what happens, not if we run into a blighted one, not if we meet   
Black Baron again, not even if Metalia herself should show up   
there!!!"  
  
Shingo wanted to help his sister and her friends, but he had given   
his solemn oath that he`d protect Laurella with his life. He loved   
his sister too much to let her down. Even more, he loved Laurella too   
much to let anything happen to her.  
  
"We have to stay aside. You`re in no condition to fight today." he   
replied to Laurella, hugging her tenderly and kissing her softly on   
her forehead. Although she did not resist his display of emotion,   
she did not respond in any way to it. Once again, Shingo felt a   
little more hurt by his girlfriend`s condition. He hoped that she   
could recover from it, because she had so much love to give, not   
only to him but to all those she knew. She had this generosity in   
her compassion that allowed her to unconditionaly love all those she   
met, a trait he had seen only in his sister before he met this   
wonderful girl. Despite her terribly painful past, she had healed   
her scarred soul and was now helping others heal as well... until   
she had crossed paths with Black Baron.  
  
"And yet fight she must." came a soft female voice behind them.   
Looking back, the young couple saw their friends Haruka, Michiru,   
Minako and Rei walking up to them along with a sailor senshi whom   
they had never met before, dressed all in black, ominous portent of   
imminent doom. "Or else all may be doomed." added the young girl who   
looked no older than fourteen, her short black hair matching her   
fuku and obsidian glaive Silence to perfection.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Shingo, wary of this unknown senshi.  
  
"You`ve met her before, Shingo, just not in this form." answered   
Haruka. "This... is Hotaru, the original Sailor Saturn."  
  
"The dark messiah." added Michiru.  
  
Laurella and Shingo felt a chill go down their spine. They knew what   
the dark messiah`s presence could only mean that she might be   
required to destroy the world if the senshi could not fulfill their   
duty to stop whatever evil they were meant to face.  
  
"What can we do?" asked Laurella.  
  
"Come with me. You may yet prove victorious by the day`s end." said   
Sailor Saturn as the setting sun bathed her in a gloomy crimson   
light. She pointed her glaive up to the dark clouds swirling atop   
the Poldzer Triangle which were getting thicker and darker by the   
hour. "The evil is almost here, but its triumph is not written as   
of yet."  
  
* * *  
  
"I think it`s possible to defeat this monster." said Sailor Mercury,   
looking at her laptop screen, fighting off the urge to look up at   
the monstrous being.  
  
"All right!" went the others, cheering their brainy friend who had   
found a solution to their problems so many times in the past.  
  
"Problem is... we don`t have enough power to pull it off." she then   
added.  
  
The cheers came to a screeching halt, silence setting in until the   
blighted one walked their way. His body had settled itself after its   
intense shifting process, stabilizing at thirty five feet high. He   
was something out of a Godzilla movie now, and the senshi were up   
to the point of fleeing like extras.  
  
"What do you mean, not enough power?!? What about our ultimates?!?"   
argued Saturn.  
  
"In your case, Saturn, it`s too narrowly focused on a man-sized   
target, or the most several normal sized ones. You couldn`t do a   
thing against a monster that large, and besides... my cumulative   
data shows that many ultimates used at once could adversely affect   
each other and reduce their individual power to less than a regular   
attack. We have to use ALL our attacks at once to pull this off."   
explained Mercury, jumping aside to avoid the immense fist of the   
blighted one trying to crush her like a bug and carving a huge   
crater in the ground at the point of impact.  
  
"Great, just great!!!" snapped off Sailor Terra who dodged a   
stomping attack and narrowly evaded a crushing death worthy of a   
mere insect.  
  
"We`re only five against that monster right now! Where are Jupiter   
and Pluto anyway?" asked Naru, concerned that something might have   
happened to her friends.  
  
"I`m afraid they have enough trouble of their own right now. Besides,   
two senshi only wouldn`t do it, even with all their power- we need   
something more than that, something more akin to cosmic forces I`d   
say..." evaluated Mercury, dividing her attention equally between   
analyzing her computer data and staying alive.  
  
"Back away, Umino, you`ll only get killed staying here!" ordered   
Naru to her boyfriend who stayed with them despite his total lack   
of superhuman powers.  
  
"No way, I`m here to help and I`m not abandonning you..." he said,   
dodging some flying rubble less than gracefully, but effectively   
nonetheless. All his years of running away from musclebound bullies   
and dodging the projectiles they threw his way were finally paying   
off. Endymion was rather impressed with his friend`s prowess in   
avoiding getting killed by either the blighted one himself or the   
surrounding damage he caused.  
  
Then, out of nowhere, three points of light came soaring through the   
air, crossing the line of sight of the gargantuan warrior and   
detonating in a blinding burst of silver light. Taken aback by this   
unexpected reversal of situation, he screamed out loud holding his   
face in his hands and falling over on his back. All he could see was   
swirling dots of colors, and he proved beyond a doubt the old saying   
"the bigger they are, the harder they fall".  
  
"That was a 4.5 on the Richter scale, I`d say." observed Sailor   
Terra.  
  
"Who did that, anyway?" wondered Sailor Moon.  
  
"Someone who came back to honor her promise." answered Sailor   
Mercury, a beautiful smile on her lips as she looked up to a   
nearby building where she estimated those three bursts of light   
had originated from- there she saw three familiar silhouettes,   
young women warriors in sailor fukus of black leathers adorned with   
star emblems on their tops.  
  
"I always stay true to my word." said Sailor Star Maker after   
leaping down and joining her sister senshi in the middle of the   
ravaged battle area. Sailor Star Healer and Star Fighter joined her,   
sleek and graceful in every one of their movements like a trio of   
cats.  
  
"Is this a private party?" wondered Healer.  
  
"Everybody`s invited!" replied Mercury with a cute giggle, shining   
stars twinkling in her eyes. She only had eyes for Star Maker,   
although the others were too caught up in the situation to even   
notice.  
  
"We better warn you that if Healer comes to your party, she`s sure   
to eat all the chips before... OW!" said Fighter, rudely interrupted   
by a slap behind the head courtesy of Healer.  
  
"Shut your yap and live up to your name! We`re here to fight, not   
take cheap shots." she told her.  
  
"What`s your plan, Mercury?" asked Maker.  
  
"Okay... here`s what I found..." she said, pointing to her computer   
and explaining her detailed findings to Maker using technical jargon  
and high-tech mumbo-jumbo that only the two of them understood.  
  
While they had their little impromptu conference, the others got   
nervous. Unlike Gulliver, they had no ropes to tie down the huge   
warrior to the ground, and he was beginning to regain his bearings.  
  
* * *  
  
"Are you going to go down, monster?!?" screamed Jupiter as she   
managed to find a hole in Black Baron`s agile defense and hit him   
hard- to no avail. He did not respond at all to physical assaults,   
and his own quick attacks would not allow her to unleash the power   
of lightning upon him.  
  
"No." responded the shadowy being. In one dizzyingly fast swipe,   
her knocked her warhamer clear out of her hands and caught her leg   
with the flat of his blade, sending her down to the ground like a   
puppet whose strings got severed.  
  
"Haven`t you learned by now that violence is not the way to solve   
your problems, or anybody else`s for that matter?" said Black   
Baron, pointing his cypher in her direction and lightly touching   
her chest with the tip of the blade. She felt an unearthly chill   
spread in her body through mere contact with the dark weapon.   
"Violence demands more violence. Revenge only begets further   
vengence."  
  
Jupiter tried to move, wanted to fight back, but she felt her   
soul invaded by despair. She suddenly realized how futile all   
her strong handed ways had been all those years, how beating up   
the guys who had mocked her only turned away even more people who   
heard about her fights.  
  
The karate maniac. These words rang in her mind, hurting her more   
with every iteration. She had driven away so many people away from   
her, pushed too many possible friendships with her brash attitude   
and quick flaring anger.  
  
She started to cry, she didn't want to, but she couldn`t help it.   
The others had warned her about not listening to the lies woven by   
Black Baron, but he wasn`t telling her lies, only the truth. The   
terrible truth that her lifetime of pain was her own doing.  
  
"So you do believe me, now..." whispered Black Baron. He smiled,   
if a being such as himself could do such a thing. He had her right   
where he wanted her, and her dark splinter was ready to be taken   
away.  
  
"Stop it!" came the voice of Sailor Pluto. Black Baron looked in   
the direction of this outburst and saw the senshi of time holding   
her garnet battle staff Eternity pointed in his direction, the   
time orb on its tip charged with a blast of energy ready to be   
fired.  
  
"You`re just in time." replied the shadow.  
  
"Leave her alone, or else..." started Pluto.  
  
"Or else what, you`ll change the flow of time and alter fate itself?"   
asked her the grandmaster of the arts of darkness, gripping Sailor   
Jupiter by her fuku and putting the blade against her throat.  
  
"You have no idea who you`re up against, monster." said Pluto,   
looking back and forth between Black Baron and Jupiter, who was   
now helpless in her suffering, barely aware of the events   
transpiring around her.  
  
"And I suppose you would pretend to know yourself, guardian of   
time?" asked her the displaced voice of the shadow.   
  
Pluto hesitated, not knowing what he meant by that.   
  
"Face it, Sailor Pluto, you have never felt helpless from the   
knowledge of the future you possess regardless of what you would   
have others believe. Despite your knowledge of events that cannot   
be changed, you are not sadder for it still." he slowly pointed   
out, catching Pluto off guard.  
  
"You`re lying, I do feel pain over events that must happen. I feel   
a pain no one who does not have temporal awareness can ever feel."   
she argued.  
  
"You do feel something all right, but it`s not pain. Why else would   
you keep watching events unfold without ever trying to change them?"   
counter argued Black Baron.  
  
"The sacred duty of the guardian of time does not allow me to change   
the timeline!"  
  
"Keep repeating it, one day you might believe it..." responded the   
dark being. "But in the meantime, you like the thrill you get from   
this unmatched knowledge. I think you even feel a sadistic pleasure   
in watching your friends suffer just like you predicted they   
would..." he added, dropping down his cypher which disappeared in   
a puff of black smoke. Raking his fingers along the face of Sailor   
Jupiter, he tore a loud scream of pain out of her as a swirl of   
dark energy came out of her body, materializing into a dark   
splinter of pure crystal.  
  
She couldn`t take it. Sailor Pluto would not let this monster hurt   
her friend and spread his lies despite what she knew what would   
happen next- her self-fulfilling prophecy indeed came to pass just   
as she had predicted it would, her upset state of mind leaving her   
wide open to the dark powers of Black Baron.  
  
"DEAD SCREAM!!!" she yelled as her staff fired a large sphere of   
purple light.  
  
The shadow merely had to step aside to avoid the incoming blast,   
holding up his open hand as something happened to Pluto; her soul   
felt like it was ripping itself apart, and it was doing just that.   
Her dark splinter left her soul, flying into Black Baron`s hand   
along with Jupiter`s.  
  
Amidst the maniac laughter of Black Baron, both girls depowered   
immediately, their powers unusable, their fukus vanishing in a   
burst of dull yellow light. They were left defenseless in their   
regular clothes once again, both their sacred weapons shattering   
in a hundred sharp pieces.  
  
* * *  
  
"When I give the signal, everybody strike the blighted one with   
your strongest attack, but stay off the ultimates though."   
instructed Mercury.  
  
"Wait just one minute! Last time we did that, we turned dwarf boy   
into Blightzilla!!!" argued Sailor Saturn who didn`t want her   
earlier mistake repeated.  
  
"Trust me, now I know what we did wrong the first time, it can   
work- but it`ll need split second timing to pull it off. Umino,   
watch for the power levels of the blighted one and tell me when   
his power conversion rate spikes!" Mercury told Umino as she   
pointed to the screen and showed him what to look out for.  
  
"Okay..." he said, hoping his genius friend knew what she was   
doing.  
  
"Fighter, Healer, her plan is going to work, but we`ll need your   
full power for this as well!" said Maker to her sisters who nodded   
and got ready to strike.  
  
Endymion gave a hand to Sailor Terra whose bleeding had stopped by   
now, though she was still a bit shaky from the wound she`d received   
from the blighted one`s sword. Endymion himself was suffering   
terribly from the slash he`d taken, but he didn`t let it show,   
keeping a strong face to inspire his daughter.  
  
"Are you going to be able to take part?" he asked her.  
  
"You bet, I wouldn`t miss this for the world!" she answered, smiling   
faintly.  
  
"That`s my girl!"  
  
Just as all the senshi and the Starlights were ready to put their   
plan into action, the gigantic blighted one stood back up, his sight   
returned to him after the effects of the blind flash of the   
Starlights had worn off.  
  
"I`ll crush you all to jelly for this!!!" he screamed, his voice   
making the ground shake under their feet.  
  
"Everyone, NOW!" urged Mercury. Seven senshi strikes surged all   
at once.  
  
"LUNAR SOUL POWER!!!"  
  
"FLAMING HEART ATTACK!!!"  
  
"DRAGON WINGS NUCLEAR FLARE!!!"  
  
"STAR GENTLE YUTRACE!!!"  
  
"STAR SIRIUS LASER!!!"  
  
"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!!"  
  
The messiah`s silent blast of power joined in with the other six,   
melding them all into a single bolt of immeasurable power.   
Connecting with the huge monster, it was instantly absorbed into   
his body which started to shimmer and shift once again.  
  
"You fools! You only give me MORE POWER this way!" mocked them the   
blighted one.  
  
The defenders of earth nervously awaited for whatever was to come   
next, looking over at Sailor Mercury who herself stared at Umino.   
His attention focused to the laptop screen, he lifted his hand   
slowly, hesitating to give the signal for the precise moment he   
was asked to be on the alert for. And that moment came, a strong   
spike forming in the power conversion rate of the blighted one as   
his internal power was transforming energy into body mass.  
  
"NOW!!!" yelled Umino, throwing his hand in the air.  
  
Sailor Mercury lifted her sapphire bow, aiming right at the blighted   
one as the air around her began to overheat. A small magnetic   
shielding sphere formed on the tip of the ice arrow she was   
preparing to fire, all of the heat energy within this sphere warming   
up the ambient air while the inside of the sphere grew colder and   
colder. Within an instant, the magnetic sphere contained a single   
water molecule held at the point of zero potential and kinetic   
energy where molecules stopped moving completely, absolute zero.  
  
"ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE!!!" she screamed as her fingers released   
the string of her bow and sent the deadly arrow soar to its target,   
easily connecting.  
  
In less than one full second, the entire body of the blighted one   
was brought down to the temperature of liquid helium, freezing   
solid into an ice statue of a size never attempted before by any   
ice sculptor in history.  
  
"HIT THE DECK EVERYONE, HE`S GOING TO..." screamed Star Maker, but   
his warning didn`t make it across before the overheated air and the   
nearly-absolute zero body of the monster reacted in an explosive   
temperature shock, blowing everyone flat on their back.  
  
It took a few minutes for everyone to free themselves of the thick   
layer of ice which now coated every single person and object within   
a seven hundred yards area. No trace of the defeated blighted one   
remained, save for a pieces of ice that looked like they had been  
used as a die-cast mold used to create him.  
  
"WHY did it work THIS TIME?" asked Saturn as she used her glaive`s   
blade to carve some ice off her shoulder pads and breastplate.  
  
"Simple." answered Mercury. "When he converts our energy into mass,   
he has to divert part of his own power to do it. We gave him so much   
energy this time that he had to use ALL of his power to convert it   
into body mass."  
  
"By waiting for the precise moment where his power was diverted,   
Sailor Mercury had an opening to deal him some ACTUAL damage, rather  
than just feed him." added Star Maker.  
  
"Brilliant!" observed Endymion.  
  
"We expected nothing less of you, Mercury!" said Terra.  
  
Star Fighter coughed, bringing attention to herself and her   
sisters.  
  
"And you too, Sailor Starlights, you really pulled our butts out   
of the fire once again!" said Sailor Moon with a large smile.   
"We`ll always be glad to know you`re there!"  
  
"Yes... always..." said Mercury, who embraced Star Maker, kissing   
her passionately. Maker obviously enjoyed the kiss, and so did their   
friends who cheered them loudly.  
  
"Together, nothing can stop us!!!" said Saturn, lifting her weapon   
in the air in a sign of victory.  
  
"Don`t be so sure..." came the deep echoing voice of Black Baron   
who materialized near the group, holding a dark splinter in each   
hand. "Jupiter and Pluto were certainly powerless to stop me   
despite their immense strength."  
  
"Oh my god..." whispered Naru when she understood what had just   
happened to the two senshi.  
  
"And it`s your turn now!" he yelled in contempt, lifting his hands   
as he infused the two powerful dark splinters with great amounts of   
black energy. In a second, a huge vortex formed around him, swirling   
at mind-boggling speed and sucking in everyone present, lifting them  
off the ground and twirling them in the air like mere rag dolls.  
  
"The power of the dark has nearly reached its peak." said Black   
Baron, standing in the eye of the vortex, looking up to the senshi   
and their allies spinning out of control.  
  
"There is nothing more any one of you pathetic fools can do to stop   
me from gathering that which belongs to the dark." he added, holding   
out his hands and pointing to the senshi. Three of them began   
writhing in pain, Sailor Mercury, Saturn and Terra screaming as they   
felt their soul being torn assunder by the powers of their enemy.  
  
Three dark splinters left their owners.   
  
Sailor Mercury became Mizuno Ami.  
  
"I don`t believe it, it`s her..." thought Star Maker as she saw the   
senshi of ice turn into the genius girl he saw at school every day.  
  
Sailor Saturn returned to Robin Redwing.  
  
"Robin... she`s Sailor Saturn? I can`t believe it!" thought Star   
Healer as she tried to fight the vortex`s power to try and reach Robin.  
  
Sailor Terra depowered into Tsukino Usako.  
  
"Oh stars... Sailor Terra is... my precious Usako?" thought Star   
Fighter, shocked to discover that the woman he loved was so much   
more than she ever imagined.  
  
Black Baron gave off a piercing maniac laugh as he picked up the   
three dark splinters and made them float around him with the other   
two in a dreadful dance of evil. He looked up to the still spinning   
senshi caught in his twister of darkness, flies in his deadly web.  
  
"And now for the final piece, the last shard, the ultimate artifact   
of power... the dark splinter of Sailor Moon... COME NOW   
ARMAGEDDON!!!" he yelled as a horrid pain invaded Sailor Moon`s   
body, tearing an equally horrible scream of pain from the helpless   
senshi who could do nothing else than spin out of control like all   
the others.  
  
This is it, she thought, we failed, and all of humanity will pay   
for it.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	50. Default Chapter Title

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 50  
  
FROM WITHIN THE DARKEST POOL  
  
  
Facing precious little resistance from the senshi, Black Baron had   
captured two different dark splinters from them in just a few minutes.   
With the flow of darkness reaching summits not attained, it had been   
child`s play for him to create a vortex of black energy in which the   
senshi, Umino and Endymion had gotten sucked into, and from that   
point three more had come in his grasp.  
  
Now he was after the last one he needed: Sailor Moon`s. Laughing his   
head off, he was putting unimaginable pressure on her soul, squeezing   
it like one extracts juice from a lemon.  
  
"COME NOW ARMAGEDDON!!!" he yelled as Sailor Moon screamed in pain.   
She couldn`t hold up against this very long and she knew it, but   
what could she do? Not even Endymion, the messiah and the Starlights   
together could stop him from assaulting her spirit with his evil   
power.  
  
The Starlights looked at Sailor Mercury, Terra and Saturn who had   
been depowered by the attack of Black Baron, and felt helpless to   
rescue them as well. The objects of their love were in deadly peril,   
and their powers were by far insufficient to do anything. They   
wanted to scream their frustration, but even that had been taken   
away from them. All they could do was to yell out their pain with   
their minds, which were ready to snap. The last remnants of their  
former glory, sharp shards of their smashed sacred weapons, spun   
around with them as silent testimony to their failure in defeating   
their mighty enemy.  
  
Something else entirely happened instead.  
  
According to a legend that the Starlights were once told by their   
adoptive mother Queen Kakyoku, when a sailor senshi reaches the   
height of peril and yet keeps her unshakable will to triumph and   
overcome all danger, her spirit transcends to new levels of power   
and understanding of self.  
  
Soul power, she called it.  
  
Deep from within their beings, Star Maker, Star Fighter and Star   
Healer felt a surge of holy power greater than any they had ever   
experienced before. A globe of golden light engulfed their bodies,   
infusing them with the strenght of legend. When the light vanished,   
their fuku had been changed- they now had a full body suit with an   
open star cutout on their stomach, tibia and forearm metal   
protectors, comfortable battle boots instead of the old, very   
impractical high heels and a visor covering their eyes.  
  
Acting on intuition, they called out the name of what they knew they   
had gained- a sacred weapon that reflected their soul`s unlimited   
potential.  
  
"Skybreaker!!!" called out Star Maker, summoning a long sleek lance   
made of the most resilient platinum, its hamp engraved with   
remarkably detailed sigils and symbols.  
  
"Nightstar!!!" yelled Star Healer, calling forth a slender french   
renaissance style rapier made of pure silver.  
  
"Sunfire!!!" called Star Fighter, materializing a sturdy two handed   
double edged sword whose hand guards were razor sharp as well.  
  
"SOUL POWER!!!" The three starlights yelled all at once, building up   
golden energy in their weapons and pointing them down towards the   
center and aiming to the dark shadow himself.  
  
Fear left their hearts as their newly acquired weapons glowed   
brightly and unleashed three golden streams of the holiest power   
that Black Baron had ever felt. Struck directly, he flinched under   
the relentless might shown by his enemies. Within a few seconds, the   
vortex disappeared, releasing its helpless prisoners. However, they   
found themselves falling down to the ground rather fast.  
  
Endymion was able to catch Sailor Moon and land on his feet, used to   
doing this sort of agile manoeuver whenever he got his girlfriend out   
of trouble as she fought youma and other fiends. Secure in the arms   
of her precious knight, she looked up and worried over her friends`   
fate- but her worries were put to rest as she saw Fighter, Maker   
and Healer soar through the air to catch Usako, Ami and Robin on   
their way down. As for Umino and Naru, well... they just seemed   
to FLOAT down!!!  
  
"Is it too late to lend a hand?" came a familiar voice. Sailor Moon   
recognized the voice, but not the costume- Ami`s mother, dressed in   
her old dark kingdom battle uniform, holding up a hand charged with   
gravitation manipulating energies.  
  
"Of course not... Quartzite, I do believe?" asked Sailor Moon,   
getting back on her feet as Endymion gently put her down. "So that`s   
what Ami`s mom looks like in leather..." she couldn`t help but   
think, remembering the description her friend had made of Akane as   
she had rescued Rei from the dual attacks of the youma Cancera and   
Manticide. She looked over to Black Baron who was still reeling from   
his blow, his shadows shifting even faster than usual. She saw her   
three friends in the starlights` arms, shivering from the cold coming   
from their torn souls. She knew that somewhere nearby, Makoto and   
Setsuna where going through the same.  
  
"You dont`have much time to heal your friends, Sailor moon, he`ll be   
on your case again in a few moments." said Quartzite, concerned over   
her daughter`s painful condition.  
  
"Right- Naru, I need your help here... we have to do this even   
stronger than last time!" said Sailor Moon, producing her moon   
crescent wand seemingly out of nowhere.  
  
"So we need to reach out all five of them at once, I do believe?"   
asked Naru, looking over in the distance and trying to evaluate how   
much power she would need to generate to do that.  
  
"Precisely."  
  
Black Baron, on the other hand, was less than receptive to the idea.   
Rising back up to his full height, he growled angrily and rose his   
hands in the air, shifting them to what seemed like gigantic claws-   
large enough to rip apart both girls at once.  
  
"Uh oh... this is so not good!" whispered Sailor Moon, her heart   
gripped with fear.  
  
A second shadow leaped into the battle zone, yelling a loud   
incomprehensible war cry as it did so. Its shape barely human, its   
hands were large enough to match those of Black Baron. No one could   
recognize who or what that shadow was, save for one woman whose heart   
was beating only for him.  
  
"Please be careful, Mitchell..." she whispered as she looked upon the   
two shadows locked in hand to hand battle. The two twisted shades   
were battling each other in physical and magical combat at once,   
Black Baron trying to overpower his opponent with brute strenght   
and dark power simultaneously.  
  
Naru and Usagi used that distraction to their advantage- the messiah   
summoned as much healing power as she could muster, and channeled it   
through Sailor Moon`s body who focused it in her wand. In one single   
golden explosion, the energy was released in a large burst which   
split itself in five thin streams that sought out their targets with   
almost intelligent accuracy, healing the horrible damage done to   
them by the dark fiend.  
  
Ami, Usako and Robin stirred gently, waking up from the spiritual   
shock they had suffered, while at the same time Makoto and Setsuna   
did the same some distance away. "Get them out of here, we can   
handle this!" ordered Sailor Moon to the starlights who relunctantly   
agreed. They wanted to stay and fight, but the powerless senshi were   
at risk in the presence of the fully powered evil shadow.  
  
"You lose this time, 'master'!" mocked Ronmar, insulting his former   
teacher in a voice filled with contempt as he wrestled him to a   
standstill.  
  
"I should have rended your soul by now, ungrateful brat, why are you   
resisting my immense power?" asked Black Baron, annoyed at his   
enemy`s resiliance.  
  
"Your power is that of the weaving, monster, you can only control   
those souls more dark than light or destroy more light than dark-   
you`re powerless against one such as myself, who is precisely half   
black and half white!!!" boasted Ronmar, his shape returning to his   
usual dread knight form to match the form of Black Baron who himself   
solidifed back to his earlier shape.  
  
"So I can`t touch your soul, big deal." taunted Black Baron.   
Suddenly evading the grasp of his agressor, he pointed to Quartzite   
and released a blast of semisolid dark energy which caught hold of   
her, lifting her up in the air as she cried out for help.  
  
"Let her go, monster!!!" yelled Ronmar who was horrified at the   
idea of his lover being hurt instead of himself.  
  
"As you wish." replied the unfocused voice of Black Baron. The   
strands of energy retracted back into him in a second, leaving her   
to fall down at full speed. Ronmar could feel that she had been   
quite exhausted from stopping the fall of Naru and Umino mere   
minutes earlier, and she couldn`t save herself this time. Shifting   
into dark smoke to move as fast as he could, Ronmar reformed   
himself directly under the falling warrior, taking the brunt of   
the damage as she fell on him heavily and his body broke her fall.  
  
"Your half of light is dragging you down, Ronmar. And to think that   
you were such a promising pupil back then, you had more raw   
potential than the great Andreyus himself." said Black Baron   
as he looked upon his former student sprawled on the ground,   
wounded seriously after heroically rescuing Akane.  
  
"It ends here, monster!" came the voice of Sailor Moon.  
  
He looked at the three warriors left standing there, Sailor Moon,   
the messiah and the prince of earth Endymion. The prince was bleeding   
under his armor he could see, no threat there. Sailor Moon would   
prove a much greater challenge to him, but first he would need to   
eliminate a rather large thorn on his side. The three warriors   
circled around his position in a clever tactic to ensure that he   
couldn`t wipe them all out with a single blast of energy.  
  
"You`ve been an annoyance since day one." said black Baron,   
focusing his attention on the messiah herself. "Time to handle you,   
now."  
  
"I`m not surrendering my dark splinter to you or anyone else.   
Besides, mine isn`t like the others, it`s useless to you." argued   
Naru, readying her sacred weapon for battle.  
  
"Who said I wanted your splinter? I only wish you dead." replied   
Black Baron. Pointing his hand towards her, his fingers deformed   
themselves and extended into what looked like five pointy   
tentacles, soaring forward to kill her where she stood.  
  
"NOOOOO!" screamed Umino whom everybody had forgotten about, jumping   
in front of her and taking the attack meant for his girlfriend, the   
five fingers of death tearing their way through his chest and   
ripping his insides apart. Before he could fall down, the fingers   
had retracted to their original size, Black Baron`s hand reforming   
itself back to its original shape.  
  
Naru yelled in pain as she caught Umino- he was too heavy for her   
to hold up, but she prevented him from hurting himself further as   
he slumped down. He was bleeding to death, his thick lifeblood   
spurting out irregularly along to his heartbeat which slowed down   
fast.  
  
"Foolish boy." whispered Black Baron. "This isn`t over, Sailor   
Moon. Face me if you dare." challenged Black Baron, vanishing into   
nothingness as he finished issuing his threat to the only opponent   
who, in his view, posed any real danger to the completion of his   
plans.  
  
"Umino, don`t die, please..." pleaded Naru, trying to use her   
already strained healing powers to close the five horrid wounds   
and stop the hemorrage, but she was helpless to do that as her   
powers could only accelerate the flow of life energy within a   
body to accelerate natural healing. umino`s life was slipping away   
between her fingers, and she could feel his soul about to depart   
into the great beyond. The shadow of death was above him and she   
couldn`t stop it.  
  
Sailor Moon and Endymion could only look upon the sad scene, unable   
to do anything.  
  
"I can`t accept this... I WON`T LET YOU DIE!!!" yelled Naru. Her   
pure aura flared around her so strongly that it became visible to   
the naked eye exactly as it did when she was initially revealed   
as the messiah in the final battle against the vile lord Aebonite.   
Holding him tight in her arms, she kissed him with more passion   
than she had ever felt before.  
  
Half blinded by the celestial glow surrounding Naru and Umino`s   
nearly lifeless body, Sailor Moon and Endymion were barely able to   
make out what was going on, but they did see something happening.   
Umino`s body started to float in the air while Naru held on to him   
and kissed him still. The senshi of the moon suddenly realized what   
was going on- the messiah`s aura, as far as she could see, was   
flowing into Umino`s body.  
  
"She`s giving him her life..." she whispered. "Or at least, part   
of it."  
  
When the glow finally subsided, the both of them lied down   
motionless on the ground, their clothes soaked in Umino`s drying   
blood. As far as they could tell, both of them were alive and   
well, although very weak.  
  
"Naru! Why did you risk your life like that? You had no idea if   
it would even work!!!" asked Sailor Moon as she helped Naru sit up.  
  
She smiled faintly as she looked upon her boyfriend who breathed   
regularly.  
  
"I told him I`d give him my life... now he has half of it." she   
whispered with difficulty, then fainted with the smile still on   
her lips.  
  
Sailor Moon`s face hardened as she looked around her. Akane and   
Ronmar were both gravely hurt and could barely move. Umino had   
nearly died and so did Naru. Her senshi sisters were all struck   
down and powerless. All this the work of just one fiend.  
  
"Usagi... I know you`re feeling angry right now..." whispered   
Endymion, trying to calm her down. He knew just how she felt, and   
had a pretty good idea what she would want to do.  
  
"Damn right I`m angry." she whispered, her every muscle tightened.   
Her teeth were clenched, her nerves tense to the absolute limit,   
ready to snap in a second.  
  
"Usagi... my little bunny... don`t let your anger take over, you   
won`t..." argued Endymion, but his words fell on deaf ears.  
  
"I`ve been keeping my anger in check long enough!" snarled Usagi,   
pushing the prince of earth away from her and picking up her crystal   
sword. "It`s about damn time I unleashed it on somebody deserving."   
she said, running away to the Poldzer Triangle`s main office   
building.  
  
"Sailor Moon, wait!" yelled Endymion who started to run after her,   
but stopped immediately as the chest slash wound given to him by   
the blighted one reopened and bled anew. "Please, be careful..."   
he whispered as he fell to his knees, holding his hand over the   
open wound.  
  
* * *  
  
"Take it easy, Setsuna, you`ve been under a terrible shock." said   
Makoto to Setsuna as she helped her get back up slowly.  
  
"So have you, as I recall." argued Setsuna.  
  
"Yeah, but I`m not going to let that stop me from helping out a   
friend." replied Makoto, smiling to Setsuna.   
  
"I appreciate that." said Setsuna, looking away from Makoto`s eyes.  
  
"What`s wrong?"  
  
"It`s just that... well..." said Setsuna, hesitating to speak her   
mind.  
  
"You`re not afraid I believed that load of garbage Black Baron told   
you, are you? I don`t believe for a second that you`d ever do   
anything to endanger us, or feel some sick pleasure out of knowing   
about the pain that we are yet to suffer!" said Makoto.  
  
The guardian of time smiled back, feeling a little better. Not so   
much for the healing she had received from Sailor Moon and the   
messiah, but for knowing that she would always have friends in the   
other senshi who regarded her not as a cold and calculating   
guardian, but as a living, emotional woman.  
  
"Thank you, my friend. You have no idea what that means to me."   
said the guardian of time.  
  
"So I guess it`s the sidelines for us, now?" asked Makoto.  
  
"Not quite." objected Setsuna, pointing to a group walking their way   
composed of Rei, Minako, Haruka, Michiru, Laurella and Shingo. With   
them was the original Sailor Saturn, dressed all in black. "Our help   
will be required again before the night is over."  
  
* * *  
  
"Can you put me down, please?" asked Usako who felt herself strong   
enough to walk again. Star Fighter let her down gently. "Thank you   
for your help, and for saving us from Black Baron."  
  
"It`s our pleasure to be able to do something for you all." replied   
Fighter.  
  
"Indeed it is." added Star Maker, her gaze lost in the loving blue   
eyes of Ami.  
  
"Now you know our secret..." replied Ami, who knew she was strong   
enough to walk as well, but decided to milk it for all it was worth.   
She felt safe in the arms of Maker.  
  
"I assume we can trust you to keep our real identities to   
yourselves?" asked Robin, still a bit woozy from the brutal assault   
of Black Baron.  
  
"Of course..." replied Healer, giving the same kind of lovestruck   
gaze to Robin who felt a bit uncomfortable from that much attention.   
"You know, it`s a shame to hide those pretty emerald eyes under a   
visor." Healer added.  
  
"Can... could you let me down? I`m... capable of walking now..."   
asked Robin, who was really sweating now.  
  
"What is it?" wondered Healer.  
  
"I`m sorry if I mislead you before, but my heart is already promised   
to somebody else..." explained Robin. "I`m in love with Kou Yaten."   
she said in a low voice, ashamed of hurting the feelings of the woman   
who twice saved her life.  
  
"Actually... I think now would be the time to share our own secrets,   
don`t you think, girls?" asked Fighter, who knew that the time was   
right to show their cards.  
  
"Agreed." the other two said.  
  
"I`ll go first." volunteered Healer. A golden glow bathed her body,   
and those around her could see her silhouette change radically, her   
hips narrowing, her shoulders broadening and her height increasing   
by several inches. When the gloden light subsided, Sailor Star   
Healer was gone, the bishonen idol singer Yaten standing in her   
place.  
  
If Robin had been a cartoon character, her jaw would have dropped   
down and hit the ground.  
  
"You see... me and Healer are one and the same." said Yaten.  
  
Robin smiled, then jumped in his arms, kissing him harder than she   
had ever kissed him before. Tears fell from her eyes, she knew that   
she had found true love at last- someone who cared about the life   
of his friends, someone who valued that serie of new and strange   
experiences called life.  
  
"My turn now." said Fighter. She depowered under the bewildered   
eyes of Usako, turning into Yaten`s brother Seiya.  
  
"Seiya... I never would have imagined..." she muttered.  
  
"I know, I was kinda surprised about you too, you know..." said   
Seiya.  
  
Ami looked at Maker, a large smile on her face.  
  
"Not too hard to figure, now, is it?" Maker asked.  
  
"Not really, Taiki, now that I know that the other two starlights   
are your brothers... or should I say sisters?"  
  
Maker depowered with Ami still in her arms, giving the blue haired   
girl a chance to enjoy the warmth of the transforming light in which   
all senshi were bathed as they changed forms.  
  
"Depends on our forms which term you should use... but the female   
form is our original one. We came to earth following our princess   
who was tracking down an ancient evil trying to rise again, and   
this male form disguise was her mother`s idea." explained Taiki.  
  
"I hope this doesn`t freak you out, Robin..." said Yaten, a little   
nervous.  
  
"I don`t care about that, silly... it`s the kindness in your heart   
I fell in love with." she replied before hugging him and resting   
her head on his chest.  
  
"The same goes for me." added Ami, kissing Taiki with wild abandon.  
  
Both Usako and Seiya looked at the other two couples, then at each   
other. The scarlet lady waited until Seiya would take her in his   
arms and show his love for her which she knew he had, but he just   
stood there, trying to say something although the words remained   
stuck in his throat. He tried saying something, but he failed. He   
jerked his leg as he started to move in her direction, but stopped   
in an awkward manner, putting his hand behind his head in a gesture   
of embarassment.  
  
"Oh, for crying out loud..." sighed Usako who took Seiya in her   
arms and threw him backwards out of balance, holding him hanging   
above the ground as she pressed her lips over his in the wildest   
kiss anyone of the others there had ever seen in their lives. As   
she broke the kiss, she helped him retrieve his balance, grinning.  
  
"About time these two finally noticed they were made for each   
other!" observed Yaten. Normally, this should have resulted in a   
quick slap behind the head from his brother Seiya, but this time   
he was too taken by his kiss to even realize that Yaten was making   
fun of him.  
  
"Whoa, what a woman..." whispered Seiya. Usako heard him, but she   
just giggled.  
  
"Ahem..." came the voice of Rei who interrupted the moment of   
unbridled emotion. Loud sighs came from Makoto, Michiru, Haruka and   
Minako who had their eyes filled with glowing hearts.  
  
"Rei, what are you doing here?" wondered Ami.  
  
"Err... what are the three lights doing here anyway?" asked Rei   
right back.  
  
"It`s all right, they know." replied Usako.  
  
"They`re the starlights, those mysterious senshi who've been helping   
us for a while now." explained Ami.  
  
"But they`re... guys!" objected Rei.  
  
"Handsome, good looking guys..." added Minako who got elbowed in   
the ribs by Makoto.  
  
"This is only a disguise. Our real form is female, as you`ve seen   
us before." said Seiya.  
  
"Regardless... we could sure your help right about now." said Makoto.  
  
"She`s right. The forces of light will need all the strength they   
can gather if the great evil that is to pass is going to be   
defeated." explained Sailor Saturn.  
  
"Hey, who`s this?" wondered Robin, pointing to Hotaru.  
  
"I am the silent messiah, Sailor Saturn." she replied.  
  
"Hey, -I`M- Sailor Saturn! I was given the title when my predecessor   
got... killed... but she... wait a minute... Hotaru? Is that really   
you?" went Robin, as she looked at the dark eyes yet serene eyes   
behind the black visor, trying to recognize the short girl who   
seemed about fourteen years old.  
  
"Yes, Robin, it`s me." replied Hotaru, smiling for the first time   
since she had grown to her teenager state.  
  
"Wow... my little sister... and do you remember how I sing to you   
before you go to sleep?" asked Robin.  
  
Sailor Saturn cleared her throat, then sang a lovely lullaby, one   
that Robin had created just for her little sister, one that she sang   
only for Hotaru. This amazing singing performance moved everyone,   
especially Robin who was brought to tears.  
  
"I love you, Hotaru!!!" she cried, embracing the black clad senshi   
and weeping in joy.  
  
"I love you too, big sister Robin." replied Hotaru. Although she   
would deny this for centuries to come, Hotaru`s cheek was moistened   
by a single tear rolling down her pale skin, glistening as brightly   
as her love for this girl who had brought so much pride and honor   
to the name Sailor Saturn.  
  
* * *  
  
The bleeding wasn`t as bad as he previously imagined, so he tried   
to get back up. A sharp, stabbing pain erupted in his lower abdomen   
as he got on his feet. Good, thought Endymion, I can still stand up.   
He took a step and a dull throbbing followed through where the   
stabbing sensation had left off, but he could live with that, just   
as long as the bleeding remained under control.  
  
Slowly, he limped in very slow pursuit of Sailor Moon, using his   
sword as a walking stick to help him along the way.  
  
"Hang on, my bunny, I won`t let you face those monsters alone..."   
he said in a voiced hushed by a pain that would have knocked out   
cold a weaker man.  
  
"Where do you think you`re going?" came the deep menacing voice of   
Ronmar.  
  
"To help my angel!!!" he replied.  
  
"You`re in no shape to fight, I can tell." replied Ronmar. "And   
neither is anyone of us." he said, moving slowly not to hurt himself   
more. He could feel that his previously broken ribs had been smashed   
once again before they could get a chance to fully heal.  
  
"I agree. It`s obvious you`re in deep trauma from that hemorrage."   
observed Quartzite. "I`m a doctor, and I`m ordering you to take it   
easy for now!" she commanded, painfully sitting up because of her   
multiple bruises and pulled muscles.  
  
"I don`t care." snarled Endymion, limping forward to the Poldzer   
Triangle main buildings.  
  
Suddenly, powerful bolts of black lightning fell from the swirling   
dark clouds as powerful gusts of wind rose from everywhere at once.   
Endymion was blown back like a rag doll, and he felt more helpless   
than ever when he saw that the dark energy had formed a strong   
force field surrounding the entire area of the three skyscrappers,   
sealing Sailor Moon inside to fend for herself.  
  
"NO! USAGI!!!" he yelled, dragging himself to the shield and   
smashing it repeatedly with his sword to no avail. He screamed as   
he slammed his blade onto the black shield, but he failed to   
accomplish anything save tire himself further. "Usagi..." he   
pleaded in tears, slumping down on the ground, totally out of   
strength.  
  
* * *  
  
The solid crystal handle of her sacred weapon was a reassuring   
presence in her hand. A sharp sword she could rely on to defeat   
whatever sick abominations her enemy was sure to send her way.   
Sailor Moon walked in the lobby with a steady yet careful pace,   
moving her eyes left and right to pick up any movement, her ears   
receptive to the slightest noise and her mind open to any intuitive   
responses she might experience.  
  
Nobody. Not a receptionist at the entrance, no security guards, no   
clients running left and right, no hurried employees in a rush.  
  
Silence. Terrible, ghastly silence.  
  
"This has got to be the place." thought Sailor Moon. She tightened   
her grip on the two-handed sword Avenger, then walked on to the   
elevators. The familiar "PING" sound resounded as the doors opened,   
and she couldn`t help but notice that the cabin still had the new   
carpet smell.  
  
The Poldzer Triangle had been completed so recently, it still had the   
many odours of new materials and equipments, carpetting, rubbers,   
plastic, and a vague smell of drying paint drifting about. The   
lights on the elevator buttons flashed in sequence as the elevator   
climbed the steel giant`s many floors, and a small beeping sound   
accompanied the change of number on the floor indicator above the   
door.  
  
Ping! Sixth floor. Ping! Seventh floor.  
  
Sailor Moon nervously hummed along to the kitch elevator music, the   
oddly chosen piece by Barry Manilow adding a surreal atmosphere to   
the situation.  
  
Ping! Fourteenth floor. Ping! Fifteenth floor.  
  
She thought about the life she always hoped she would have since   
she was a young girl, the big wedding, the blissful marriage,   
raising children with a beautiful, caring man and living old with   
him. She knew she was meant to know all this, that her fate would   
allow for those blessed moments of joy...  
  
Ping! Twenty-fourth floor. Ping! Twenty-fifth floor.  
  
Mamoru, her true love. The only man she`d ever loved, even when she   
didn`t know who he was. She did it all for him, to get his attention,   
to make sure he was safe, to become a better mother to the children   
they would have... life meant nothing without him, she knew it well.  
  
Ping! Thirty-seventh floor. Ping! Thirty-eighth floor.  
  
Her family came to her mind. Usako, the daughter she would give life   
to. Her brother Shingo, the annoying pest who turned out to be a   
heroic knight who made her proud to call him her sibling. Her father   
and mother, Kenji and Ikuko. She did all for them too, because she   
loved them with all her heart.  
  
Ping! Fifty-fifth floor. Ping! Fifty-sixth floor.  
  
She also did it for her friends. Rei, Minako, Laurella, Ami, Setsuna,   
Makoto, Haruka, Michiru, Naru, Robin, Umino, Artemis and Luna. All   
of them counted on her, and she wouldn`t let any of them down. Her   
love knew no limits, and she loved them all.   
  
Ping! Sixtieth floor.  
  
The door opened; this elevator didn`t go any higher than that point.  
  
Bravely, Sailor Moon stepped out into the badly lit corridor where   
only the occasional neon tube shone, creating an ominous atmosphere.   
She felt a shiver go down her spine, but she knew she had to go on.  
  
"Luna... you pushed me to better myself... I only wish you were here   
with me right now to see what you made me become..." thought the   
pretty soldier, thinking about her cat guardian who was still back   
home with her parents and Chibi-Chibi, resting after her long   
fruitless search to find the missing Artemis.  
  
She took a few steps.   
  
Nothing happened.   
  
She walked on, ready for whatever was waiting for her.  
  
The corridor lead her to a large room, a for conferences it seemed   
by its size, although for some reason it was devoid of furniture of   
any kind. The very large circular room suddenly went dark, its neon   
lighting shutting down.  
  
As frightening as that effect was, it was reassuring to Usagi in   
some way. She knew her enemies were about to strike now, so it did   
a lot to relieve the stress of this intolerable suspense. At least   
she could do something about her opponents if they came out and   
attacked her directly.  
  
She took her battle stance, sword held up. She walked in slowly,   
waiting for some god forsaken monster to assault her with bladed   
hands or venomous fangs. She instead encountered something that   
would horrify her much more than any hellspawned abomination.  
  
The floor felt slippery under her feet; some sticky liquid was   
covering the floor tiles, and she wondered what it was... yet the   
odor felt disturbingly familiar, even if she couldn`t put her   
finger on its origin.  
  
"Usagi..." came a faint voice through the dark.   
  
Her heart froze. No... it couldn`t have been HER... her mind was   
playing tricks on her...  
  
"Usagi... help me..." came the voice again. A small halo of light   
shone on something she had unconsciously banished to the furthest,   
darkest reaches of her mind all those months ago, something that   
still gave her nightmares despite knowing it was something she   
could not have blamed herself for.  
  
In front of her was Queen Serenity, her body atrociously mutilated   
by the Prime to turn her into his new computer core for Saturn   
Station Beta. She was lying on the crowd in front of a shattered   
glass tube which had been her life-preserving prison for hundreds   
of years, the orange nutrient solution it contained originaly   
spilled over the floor along with Serenity`s blood. She had three   
huge sword slashes to her chest, slashes Usagi recognized for   
having inflicted those herself at her mother`s own request.  
  
"Oh god... mother, that`s not possible... you can`t be here..."   
she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. She felt her grip become   
uncertain on Avenger, her legs felt wobbly as her knees buckled.  
  
"Usagi... why did you do this to me?" begged Serenity, reaching   
out her only hand to Sailor Moon in obvious agony.  
  
"I`m sorry..." she said, crying heavy tears. "You couldn`t live like   
that... it`s what you wanted me to do, the only thing to be done..."   
Sailor Moon appologized, feeling guilt like she never experienced   
before.  
  
"How could you do this... why did you kill me? How could my dearest   
daughter resort to murder?" said the mutilated Serenity, pointing an   
accusing finger to Sailor Moon.  
  
Getting a grip over herself, the pretty soldier tightened her grip   
on her sword once again. Standing back up in a flash, she held up   
her sword and pointed it down to Serenity.  
  
"NOOO!" she screamed as she saw the shard blade aimed at her, but   
too late. The blade went down on her in a swift, fluid motion of   
death. The blade went right through her head, pinning the dying   
monster who no longer had its powers of illusion to disguise itself   
as the long-dead Queen of the moon kingdom. It released a chilling   
shriek of pain, it body thrashing as its life slipped away.  
  
"My mother had too much dignity to live like that!" yelled Sailor   
Moon, pushing down still on the sword as the dark, slimy creature   
with no distinguishable face save a disproportionned mawing mouth   
with huge fangs wriggled in its death throes. "She asked me to allow   
her the death she was unjustly denied, and I gave her that, as   
painful as it was... I refuse to feel guilt over this, I did what I   
did out of love for her, you`ll never understand that!!!"  
  
"We do understand." came another voice, more menacing and   
contemptuous.  
  
"It`s that love that`s made you weak." said another.  
  
"Made you soft." added a third one.  
  
"Made you forget what being a warrior is all about." said a   
fourth one.  
  
"And in the end, will make you DEAD." concluded a fifth one.  
  
It didn`t take Usagi too long to figure she was dealing with blighted   
ones. She looked in the direction of the five voices, and a some of   
the room`s lights turned back on. The five warriors were indeed   
minions of Black Baron, all wearing the black clothes inspired by   
those of desert nomads. They held long scimitars made of black metal   
which not only reflected no light at all, but also seemed like it   
was absorbing it as well.  
  
"I don`t fear any of you. If you`ll come closer, I`ll show you how   
weak I truly am..." Sailor Moon responded calmly with a disturbing   
smile on her face. She pulled her sword from the ground and out of   
the disgusting monster`s head, its blade stained with a visquous   
and sickening black ooze that could only be guessed to be blood of   
some sort.  
  
Holding the sword with just one hand, she ran a finger over the   
stained blade, her gloved hand drawing a crescent moon in the thick   
ooze.  
  
"So... who`s first?" she challenged them all, smiling like a   
maniac.   
  
* * *  
  
Crystallite sat on the sofa of her luxurious penthouse, reading a   
very old book which seemed ready to crumble at any second. She kept   
the place barely lit at all, just enough so that she could   
distinguish the characters, yet not too much as to not lose the   
gloomy mood that the outside clouds swirling about the Poldzer   
Triangle brought around the place.  
  
"I can`t make heads or tails of this bloody book!!!" she finally   
yelled in frustration, throwing the manuscript work on the coffee   
table in front of her. Her breathing suddenly accelerated, her   
heart beating fast as a burning, stabbing pain tore her chest   
apart. This little outburst had just pushed her physical endurance   
to the limit, and she now had the same reaction as any healthy but   
untrained human would have trying to run a marathon at maximum   
speed all the way through.  
  
She felt like her chest was going to burst into flames. She tried   
to relax, to breathe deeper, slower, and it helped a little. Her   
heart was going a thousand miles an hour, and she felt horrible.  
  
The front door of the penthouse cracked open with a long squeeky   
sound of hinges in serious need of oil. A small beam of light   
entered through the opening while the dark silhouette of a black   
clad individual walked in silently. The door closed behind the   
silhouette, bringing much needed relief to the photosensitive eyes   
of Crystallite.  
  
"So how did you fare in battle?" she asked, still trying to catch   
her breath.  
  
"I did extremely well." replied the shadow in a voice much too bright   
and cheerful to be that a blighted one. In one swift move, the dark   
cloak came off and flew off to the side, revealing Sailor Moon   
holding Avenger whose blade was covered in a rapidly drying crimson  
substance. "Your blighted ones, however, are not up to par I`m   
afraid. You really should stop getting your underlings at Goons-R-Us.   
And who might you be, by the way?"  
  
"My name is Crystallite. You know my mother I do believe..." said   
Crystallite, brushing her hands in her long, rich red hair and   
uncovering her ears, pointed just like her mother`s.  
  
"Beryl..." whispered Sailor Moon, taken aback.  
  
"Indeed. Mother died at your hands... but I don`t really care, quite   
frankly. It only made my rise to power that much quicker... just like   
your killing my husband Aebonite." said Crystallite without showing   
emotion, stretching her arm to pick up a glass of wine on the table   
and drinking a sip.  
  
"He didn`t mean anything to you, did he?" asked Sailor Moon, feeling   
disgusted by the young girl`s total lack of concern for her husband.  
  
"Nothing at all. Our wedding was just an empty one, to seal a   
political alliance between my mother and Aebonite`s parents. He   
took good care of me, made sure I was safe and comfortable, but it   
went no further." she explained.  
  
"Don`t you get lonely, consorting with fiends like Black Baron and   
blighted ones all the time, never knowing love or compassion???"   
asked Sailor Moon, taking a step towards Crystallite.  
  
"I never feel truly alone, not as long as I have THIS, the key to my   
triumph over you and your puny planet!" taunted Crystallite, pulling   
the near complete black crystal. It was a horrendous sight to behold,   
dark, irregular with sharp edges and spikes all over its ill designed   
surface.  
  
"That`s what I wanted to discuss." said Sailor moon, her face   
hardening at the sight of the crystal. "You hurt a lot of my friends   
to build that aberration."  
  
"And is that so wrong to inflict on others what I was given   
myself?!?" scowled Crystallite, pointing to a glass casing containing   
a serie of delicately crafted porcelain dolls. "My body is just as   
fragile as theirs, if not more! Tell me, Sailor Moon, how does it   
feel to be the broken doll? To know the pain I have suffered for so   
long myself?!?"  
  
"That`s where I disagree. It is wrong to inflict pain on others for   
selfish reasons, and I won`t stand to see you hurt even more   
innocents. It stops here, and your precious crystal won`t get you   
out of trouble without MY splinter, I`m afraid." replied Sailor Moon,   
smiling. "I`m not in any state of mind where it can be taken from   
me... and my only regret is that you never knew love before I end   
your mad plans, Crystallite." she said, readying her sword.  
  
"You`re wrong about one, dear." replied Crystallite with an equally   
big smile as Sailor Moon lifted her sword. "I do know what love is."  
  
A loud beastial growl caught Usagi`s attention and she saw in the   
shadow the peircing glow of two burning red eyes staring right at   
her.   
  
"Meet my lover, Fenris Wolfang." whispered Crystallite in a hushed   
voice reflecting her feelings for the manwolf.  
  
She held her breath in surprise, and in a flash a huge shadow leaped   
right at her, slamming right into her as it flew over the sofa in a   
fast attack she barely saw coming her way. Sailor Moon was thrown   
back against the wall, her breath taken away from the violent shock.   
She slashed her sword wildly at the blurry shadow moving her way at   
lightning speed, failing to hit it entirely. When it was right there   
in front of her, she saw it clearly, in all his hulking stature, his   
rippling muscles entirely covered in a deep black layer of short fur,  
sharp claws on his huge hands and terrifying fangs from which dripped   
a thin trickle of slobber, a tribute to his animalistic side which   
he`d kept in check for so long without ever getting a chance to   
unleash it.  
  
Until now.  
  
Sailor Moon Tried to stab him, but he brutally hit her sword arm with   
his hand, sending Avenger flying away from her grasp. She screamed   
in pain as the mad manwolf repeatedly slashed her, inflicting a   
serie of deep gashes on her chest, arms, stomach and thighs. She   
bled all over her body, and cried as she was unable to yell anymore.  
  
"Finish it off, I can get the splinter from her dead body if need   
be. Kill her, Fenris, KILL HER RIGHT NOW!!!" urged Crystallite to   
her protector who complied immediately, grasping the pretty   
soldier`s neck with both of his large hands and lifting her off   
the ground as he held her against the wall and squeezed her neck.  
  
"KILL HER!!!" screamed again Crystallite who barely felt the fire   
in her chest as she winded herself out yelling.  
  
Sailor Moon panicked. Her throat crushed, she couldn`t say the   
command word "return" and retrieve Avenger. If only she had a   
weapon, she could strike him but she was in no position to reach   
for her sacred weapon.  
  
Fenris closely watched Sailor Moon`s eyes, awaiting to see the moment   
where she would shift from life into the mysterious realm of death,   
hoping to catch a glimpse of what laid in the great beyond. Fear   
and panic suddenly changed to smugness in the senshi`s eyes, to the  
manwolf`s surprise however. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught   
a glimpse of bluish light coming from Sailor Moon`s hand, and he   
felt a stinging pain in his chest.  
  
Looking down, he saw that Sailor Moon had just stabbed him right   
through the heart with a sharp piece of lapis-lazuli, the fragment   
of Monsoon she had picked up from the battleground where Sailor   
Neptune and Sailor Uranus got their dark splinters taken away.   
She had totally forgotten to hand it over to Ami for analysis,   
but remembered it just in the nick of time before the died from   
strangulation.  
  
Fenris dropped Sailor Moon who wheezed as she breathed again,   
staring blankly at the mortal wound he`d just received. He pulled   
out the piece of gemstone, but the open wound only bled faster for   
it. Staggering back a few steps, he looked back to Crystallite.  
  
"I`m sorry... for... failing you... my love..." he whispered, not   
even having enough strength to voice the last two words which   
Crystallite read on his lips. He collapsed on his back, his heart   
stopped dead and his breathing halting a few seconds later.  
  
"Return!" whispered Sailor Moon, her sword instantly flying to her   
hand just like Luke`s lightsaber in Star Wars. She got up on her   
feet, anger flaring on her face. This time, there`d be no more wolf   
men to prevent her from killing the daughter of Beryl.  
  
Crystallite just stood there, paralyzed from shock. Fenris was dead.   
The only man- the only person- who had ever loved her. Not her   
husband, not her mother. no one but the large manwolf who kept warm   
her shivering body every night, but not anymore. Sailor Moon raised   
her sword and slowly walked towards her enemy, blood pouring from   
her every claw mark. The stood in sword`s reach, but she hesitated.   
Why wasn`t she reacting? Where was the magic attack she was   
expecting Crystallite to fire, the threats, the boastful speech???  
  
Nothing came from Crystallite. Her hand went limp, the incomplete   
black crystal slipping out and dropping on the floor. Tears streaked   
on her face, and she threw herself on Fenris` body and cried her   
pain. She wasn`t the evil overlord anymore, gone was the twisted   
daughter of Queen Beryl seeking to gain control of the universe   
for herself. There were no plans, no schemes or plots left in her,   
none of her webs of deceit left to carry her forward.  
  
She was nothing more than a young girl who lost the only person   
left in her life, alone to fend off for herself in a world as   
unforgiving as she once was.  
  
Sailor Moon was horrifed at what she had just done. In one moment   
of hateful anger, she had struck down the only love Crystallite   
had ever known. For one second, she had become capable  
of snuffing out the true love that she fought so hard to protect   
everyday. Usagi had become what she hated the most.  
  
Falling to her knees, she cried, unaware of the tall black shadow   
looming behind her, his hand outstretched towards her.  
  
"You see child..." whispered Black Baron. In one mighty blast of   
dark power, the dark splinter was violently knocked out of her body,   
tearing her soul apart as it did. "...all of this had been planned   
from the start by my mistress herself." he said as the splinter flew   
to his hand and Usagi sprawled on the floor, her senshi fuku   
disappearing in a flash of dull yellow light.  
  
Next to her, Avenger detonated in a shower of crystal pebbles.  
  
"You lose, Sailor Moon. You never had a chance." concluded Black   
Baron, abandoning his fallen enemy and picking up the incomplete   
black crystal. With remarkable ease, he fused the last piece into   
place, creating a rumbling shockwave that expented from the crystal   
to the building superstructure, flowing through his body without   
affecting him at all.  
  
A large earthquake shook the area, dreadful announce to Usagi`s   
failure.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	51. Default Chapter Title

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
The earth shook and rumbled violently.  
  
Windows smashed everywhere, shelves dropping their contents on the   
floor. Bookshelves toppled throughout the city of Tokyo, people  
panicking and hiding under door frames and desks. The sky had  
darkened, ominous clouds spreading from above the Poldzer Triangle  
to the surrounding area and choking the dying light of the day which  
was almost over.  
  
Car alarms went off all at once, adding the shrieking noise to the  
fear-charged atmosphere. Terror was palpable among the populace of  
the japanese megalopolis, and had reached levels never seen before,  
as if it were alive, a breathing semi-intelligent entity that  
spread to everyone like a malicious disease.  
  
A lone figure observed the Poldzer Triangle, his nerves of steel  
keeping him calm under pressure. His feline companion ever perched  
on his shoulder remained cool as well.  
  
"This looks amazingly bad." observed the man dressed all in black.  
  
"I have to agree... but if these new senshi are anything like their  
previous incarnations, they will prove successful in the end."  
replied the black cat, a bright silver ankh shining on his forehead.  
  
"They`ve done a lot already in the last six months. I think we should  
stay away from their battle, we can`t risk having them see us. All  
we did would just crumble if they knew we were out there." said  
the man, scratching the cat behind the ears.  
  
"I agree. And besides, at this point it`s not likely that your  
presence might tilt the balance any further." replied the cat.  
  
"Do you think any of these people know what`s happening right now?"  
wondered the man, looking down from the roof of the appartment   
building where he was hiding in shadows.  
  
"For their own sakes... it`s better they remained in ignorance."  
said the cat, purring loudly.  
  
"Tell me, Osiris... do you think that you and me can ever get our  
normal lives back when this mess we bathe in is over?"  
  
"Not a chance in hell, Kurotenshi old friend." replied the cat in  
his usual cynical tone. "You know that better than me. Not after  
what they did to us."  
  
"Yeah, I know. I guess hope will always carry me to that dream...  
even if it`s an impossible one to attain." concluded the mysterious  
man who turned away from the dreadful scene in the horizon and  
walked down the stairs back to the streets.  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 51  
  
ANCIENT HEARTS OF LIGHT AND DARK  
  
  
"Come now, Crystallite." whispered Black Baron in his most soothing  
voice to the young daughter of Beryl who cried her grief over the  
death of her lover and protector Fenris Wolfang.  
  
"I don`t care anymore. Go away!" she snapped back, tears staining  
her pale face.  
  
"The black crystal is complete. You can use it to destroy this  
world... avenge your lover`s death and kill the girl who murdered  
him!!!" enticed Black Baron, handing her the black crystal which  
now seemed to glimmer with a life of its own, radiating from within.  
  
The red haired girl`s tears stopped as she took a look at the black  
crystal, the single objective she had worked so hard for these past  
few months. She took it from her ally`s hand, and felt a jolt of  
raw power go through her body. Her face hardened from grief to  
anger, attaining levels of hatred she had never experienced before.  
Looking upon her fallen enemy Sailor Moon, she had an evil grin.  
  
Usagi laid on the floor wearing not her senshi fuku anymore but  
rather her ordinary sweater and jeans, clothes of an average girl.  
She looked not like the formidable opponent her mother had spoken  
of, but a mere child now. Usagi kept in a foetal position, shivering  
from the unnatural cold that her spiritual hemorrage was causing.  
Lying amidst the shattered remnants of her broken sacred weapon,  
she was no threat anymore.  
  
"Yes... I`ll use the crystal... I`ll make them all pay for my pain,  
our pain. I`ll kill them all, my darling." she whispered in the ear  
of her deceased manwolf bodyguard, a wicked snarl twisting her face.  
"Come with me, Black Baron, I`ll need your help to get to the roof."  
  
The shadowy being nodded and took Crystallite by the arm, leaving  
the suffering Usagi by herself.  
  
"She`s no threat to us, Black Baron, lets leave her to her pain a  
little longer before we return to finish her off... she`ll die only  
when she`s seen her entire planet die." said Crystallite to her  
ally. Both of them laughed as they abandonned Usagi.  
  
It was the most horrible thing she had ever felt.  
  
Her every fear, nightmare and anguish had been made real, tearing  
her inside out like so many knives ripping through the fabric of  
her being. Now she knew how the others had felt going through the  
same ordeal, something she would never wish upon her worse enemies.  
  
Her trembling hand reached for her back pocket, her fingers trying  
to seize the one object capable of saving her, the moon crescent  
wand. It slipped out of her grasp, clanking on the floor and sliding  
right in front of her eyes. It then occured to her that it was   
useless without the power of the messiah to power it up- without   
Naru to help her out of this situation, she was doomed.  
  
She started to cry, the pain reaching intolerable heights.  
  
A few minutes passed, every second seeming like an eternity.  
  
Light footsteps approached Usagi. This is it, she thought, in a  
few seconds Crystallite would kill her and finish it off. Turning  
her head, she saw not the tall redhead, but rather a petite pink  
haired angel.   
  
"Chibi Chibi!!!" went the toddler who smiled as always.  
  
"Chi... bi.. Chibi? How... did... you... get here?" uttered Usagi,  
barely managing to pronounce the words.  
  
"Usagi hurt..." said Chibi Chibi, concerned about her friend.  
  
"Get out... kid... they`ll... kill you if..."   
  
"Chibi Chibi help Usagi." said the sweet girl, picking up the moon  
crescent wand and kneeling in front of Usagi, holding the wand in  
her tiny hands.  
  
"Won`t work... need... power to..." started Usagi, knowing that the  
wand would only work with immense amounts of the holiest power. To  
her immense surprise, a radiant golden aura flared around the little  
girl. Her hair flew wildly as if a strong gust of wind was blowing  
through the penthouse, and the eyes of Chibi Chibi surged with this  
same golden light as her smile returned.  
  
"Usagi feel better now." said the toddler as she touched Usagi`s  
forehead with the wand and infused her with healing energy.  
  
* * *  
  
Her eyes flared with the untamed rage of pain and loss. Holding  
the black crystal in her hands, Crystallite was ready to start. As  
she lifted her hands up to the dark skies, powerful gusts of winds  
blew her hair back and nearly knocked her down, but she managed  
to stay up despite her weakened state.  
  
Reciting from memory, she muttered the strange arcane words of   
power that were meant to unleash the full strength of her newly  
acquired artifact.  
  
Standing from a distance, Black Baron watched with great interest,  
anticipating the moment where everything he`d worked for would come  
together at long last. Unfortunately, something rather unexpected  
happened; he felt the presence of a strong holy power coming from  
the floors below. He could not understand how it was that this  
power could still emerge after he handled the messiah only a few  
minutes before.  
  
Looking at Crystallite, he saw that she was well on her way to  
complete the final ritual of the black crystal. She did not need  
his help anymore, if only to prevent intrusions that could disrupt  
her work. Content in knowing she was doing as he had planned she  
would, he set out to quelch this holy power once and for all.  
  
Black Baron`s form shifted slightly as he glided through the  
doorway and floated down the stairs. He molded his fingers into  
sharp claws, feeling that they would be best suited to tear  
this annoyance apart into bloody pieces.  
  
Entering the penthouse of Fenris and Crystallite where he had left  
Sailor Moon to writhe in pain. Surely enough, she was gone from the  
spot where he thought he`d find her. He smiled. It would be much  
more fun to hunt down the little senshi and her messiah friend.  
  
"Won`t you come out and play?" asked Black Baron to the seemingly  
empty place, looking around to see if he could locate the two  
girls. They were here, he could feel the residual traces of two  
pure auras lingering around him, and they were still very fresh.  
  
Hidden behind the sofa, lying down on the ground, Usagi held the  
little Chibi Chibi close to her with a hand over her mouth. The  
toddler was shivering in fear at the displaced sound of the  
dark fiend`s hideous voice.  
  
"Please stay silent, angel, don`t let him hear you..." pleaded  
Usagi in hushed words, tears rolling down her cheeks. Usagi was  
afraid, so very afraid. Not for herself, even if she knew that  
within minutes she`d be nothing more than a mauled corpse drained  
of all her precious blood, but rather for Chibi Chibi, at the  
very though that this monster would surely do the same to her.  
  
What possessed the little pink haired girl to come all the way  
here, she wondered, and... HOW did she get there?!? It simply  
made no sense.  
  
"You`re only making this harder on yourselves..." threatened  
Black Baron as he kicked over the cofee table to see if anyone  
was hiding underneath.  
  
As the table smashed and splintered itself on the floor, Usagi  
couldn`t quite completely keep the toddler in her arms from  
letting out a fearful yelp of surprise.  
  
Usagi cringed as she heard loud footsteps resounding her way,  
one after the other, ominous and terrifying. She had to do  
something. She had to keep him away from Chibi Chibi.  
  
There was no way in hell she could stop him when she still had  
her powers as Sailor Moon. What chance did Tsukino Usagi stand  
against the grandmaster of the arts of darkness???  
  
"Fancy seeing you alive, Sailor Moon." taunted Black Baron as he  
circled the sofa and met with the two girls. "And who might your  
little friend be? She`s so young... so innocent.. so pure...  
it sickens me."  
  
"You stay away from her, monster!!!" screamed Usagi, crying her  
eyes out, experiencing primal fear that shook her to the core of  
her soul.  
  
"And how will you pull that off, child? With your hollow threats  
and your puny fists?" mocked the shadow entity, advancing upon  
them menacingly. The sound of his feet was unnerving Usagi to  
the very limit, a fact Black Baron counted on, having made sure  
his shape had materialized booted feet to enhance his fearful  
aura to the maximum.  
  
Chibi Chibi just stared at him, paralyzed where she stood. Usagi  
placed herself between the two, interposing herself.  
  
She wouldn`t let Black Baron touch the little girl while she  
still had an ounce of life left in her body. Maybe Chibi Chibi  
would get a chance to bolt and leave this place with her own  
life while the vile fiend was busy gutting her alive...  
  
"I`ll do you a favor, Sailor Moon..." said Black Baron, swiping  
Usagi with the side of his hand to avoid cutting her with his   
monstrous claws. She collapsed a few feet away, her breath  
knocked out of her. "...I`ll let you WATCH me carve up the  
little one."  
  
"No..." tried to scream Usagi, crawling up to her knees with her  
entire body wracked in pain. She was helpless as the large shadow  
advanced upon the pink haired toddler who looked at him unaware of   
what was going on.  
  
"Any last requests I can refuse for you?" asked Black Baron, slowly  
moving his claws over her, poised to rip her tiny body to shreds.  
  
"You reek!" said Chibi Chibi, her golden aura flaring up again  
to surround her, the large claws suddenly unable to touch her.  
She was shielded against the dark one, and it drove him mad.  
  
"I`ll teach you to defy the great Black Baron!!!" he yelled,   
hitting the golden sphere over and over, scraping the surface with  
all his evil might, unable to pierce it. Chibi Chibi just giggled,  
happy to watch smoke come from the hands of her enemy who was  
burning himself on the purity of her power.  
  
"Your power of goodness is so strong... once I find your stain  
of evil, I`lll weave your soul and obliterate it, crush it into  
oblivion!!!" menaced Black Baron who used all of his skill to try  
and turn the little one`s soul against itself as he had done to  
all the senshi.  
  
Except this time, there was no evil to be found there, not the  
smallest spot, not the slighest speck. She truly was pure to the  
strictest sense of the word.  
  
She would be the death of him.  
  
Her aura flared into a storm just like the one that Black Baron   
had summoned, except that this one was gold in color, burning  
the evil shadow in ways he never imagined possible.  
  
"No... no... NO!!! I can`t be beaten by a mere whelp!!!" screamed  
Black Baron as his hands and arms melted and vaporized.  
  
"Black man go bye bye!" said Chibi Chibi, waving to her enemy.  
  
The final rush of golden energy swallowed him whole, taking him  
to his final, eternal punishment.  
  
The light died down. Chibi Chibi giggled and ran into Usagi`s  
arms, hugging her tight. Usagi kissed her on the forehead,  
counfounded and astonished.  
  
"Who are you, angel?" she asked her, still crying but from joy  
now.  
  
"Chibi Chibi!!" she just replied.  
  
* * *  
  
Dark bolts of power struck down from the sky, hitting the black  
crystal in the young girl`s hands without hurting her; they were  
rather infusing her with the strength to go on with her ceremony,  
calling forth even more power.  
  
As she pronounced the last arcane word, the glow within the jagged  
piece of dark crystal intensified further still, attaining its  
summit.  
  
"It`s ready... I`ve done it! I reached my goal!!!" yelled the  
power hungry Crystallite as she help up her prize to the sky,  
her tears of sadness drifting off in the howling storm winds.  
  
"So have I!" came a purring voice from a hidden location behind  
a large ventilation roof duct. Moving in a flash, an agile blur  
swiftly rushed her, grasping both her hands before she could  
even let out a word of surprise. When surprise wore off, the  
red haired mage recognized her attacker.  
  
"CATHRA?!?" she let out in astonishment.  
  
"Glad you remember my name, honey, because frankly I was starting  
to wonder if you did." replied the catwoman, squeezing the wrists  
of her mistress with no care as to wether she caused her pain or  
not.  
  
"You`re hurting me!" complained the young girl, trying to keep  
hold of the precious crystal in her left hand. She knew Cathra`s  
behavior could only mean she wanted it for herself, and she had   
no intention of letting her treacherous minion have it.  
  
"I`M hurting YOU, am I? And what about you letting me be the only  
one of my kin survive the Osaka massacre, you think that was FUN?  
And having your little Black Baron kill my parents, that was a   
laugh riot, I`m sure! And your big wolfish boytoy turning me down,  
that was hilarious!!!" snarled Cathra in disdain, her face twisting  
in repressed rage unleashed with no restraints. "HOW DARE ANYBODY  
TURN ME DOWN???" she screamed, digging her claws in the soft flesh  
of Crystallite`s wrists, drawing blood as she did.  
  
"What do you want?" asked Crystallite, trying to find a way to  
end this situation to her advantage.  
  
"What I want? I WANT IT ALL!" replied Cathra. Her eyes turned to  
the glowing gem in her mistress` hand. "And for starters, I`ll  
take that trinket of yours." she added with a sly smile.  
  
"Think fast." whispered the daughter of Beryl.  
  
Crystallite opened her hand, the gem falling down. Cathra never   
took her eyes from it as she let go of Crystallite`s left wrist  
to catch the gem in mid-fall with an agile swipe.  
  
"I GOT IT!" she yelled as her fingers closed on the precious gem.  
  
"Do you really?" snapped back Crystallite, whispering an   
incomprehensible word of magic and grabbing Cathra`s face with  
her free hand.  
  
The burning hand spell was the most horrid pain Cathra had ever   
felt, freezing her in shock as her brain processed the unlikely  
fact that the hand pressed against the right side of her face  
was hotter than a branding iron pulled out of a smith`s forge.  
Releasing the gem she`d gotten hold barely just seconds before,  
she yelled so loud as to wake up her dead brethren and pushed  
away the burning hand from her face. Her loud scream drowned out  
the sound of the black crystal landing on the skyscrapper`s metal  
roofing.  
  
The sickening smell of charred flesh assaulted the nose of the two  
women. Still yelling in pain, Cathra ran in a panic. Just as she  
leaped and smashed her way through the weak grating of the  
ventilation duct, Crystallite quickly cast a second fire spell-  
a much more powerful one since she now had both hands free. The  
feline youma rapidly slid down the ventilation shaft as the   
exploding fireball completely melted the duct`s part that extruded  
out of the rooftop and filled the shaft with deadly flames.  
  
"My body may be weak, but I`m not helpless yet." snarled Crystallite  
as she looked upon the mess of scrap metal that was still white hot.  
  
With a simple gesture of her finger combined with a magic word said  
in a hushed voice, the black crystal flew back to her hand.  
  
"Where was I?" wondered Crystallite.  
  
Damn. She was going to have to start that last part all over again.  
  
* * *  
  
Darkness. It was wrapping up his mind and clouding his thoughts.  
  
Old memories resurfaced in a jumble, flashing before his eyes  
at the speed of light, leaving little more than a vague sense of  
familiarity.  
  
The color of Crystallite`s eyes. The taste of nearly toxic drinks  
from his watering hole in the ourworld he`d been brought over  
from. The sound of Black Baron laughing his head off. The feeling  
of the arctic cold biting his furry hide as he approached D-point  
on his mission to kill Crystallite. The sorrow he felt as he  
dragged her blood stained body, dying from the wound that would  
destroy her health and leave her scarred for life.  
  
And all through those images, that smell. That horrible, pungent  
smell of corruption brought on by Black Baron, infecting all  
the beings he came near. He smelled that odour before, he was sure  
of that. Somewhere before he even met his darling Crystallite, but  
where?  
  
Then, out of the deepest recesses of his forgotten memories, the  
answer came in all its shocking horror. Fenris remembered where  
he first encountered the vile stench, and it made him mad with  
rage.  
  
* * *  
  
"Wolf man not dead!" said Chibi Chibi pointing to the inanimate  
body of Fenris Wolfang.   
  
"What are you talking about, sweetheart?" replied Usagi who was  
trying to open the door of the penthouse to take the little girl  
outside to safety. Unfortunately, the door now seemed to be   
locked with an unseen magnetic system.  
  
"Wolfie alive! Gonna wake up now." she added with a giggle. Usagi   
kneeled down next to her and just as she was about to explain to   
her that this was the kind of sleep you don`t wake up from, Fenris  
proved her right.  
  
He breathed again, then groaned and stirred.  
  
Usagi felt her heart freeze in her chest. She took Chibi Chibi in   
her arms, and slowly backed away from the manwolf.  
  
"BLACK BARON, YOU BASTARD!!!" he screamed as he sat up suddenly.  
Looking down at his chest, he saw to his satisfaction that his  
superhuman healing had closed the stab wound nicely. "Oh man, I`m  
getting soft... five years ago, I`d have LAUGHED at a wound like  
that, Sailor Moon."  
  
"I thought you were... dead..." she uttered in surprise.  
  
"I wouldn`t be much of an assassin if I died so easy, don`t you  
think? And speaking of which... I think I just figured out just  
WHO is behind all this mess..." said Fenris as he slowly got up,  
stretching his numb limbs. "And you AIN`T going to like the answer  
I just came up with."  
  
Usagi relaxed a little in the manwolfs` presence. He wasn`t acting  
in any hostile way towards her, yet he was very distraught.  
  
"What happened exactly, then? Who`s behind this?" asked Usagi,   
trying to buy herself some time against this beast who could kill  
her easily without her powers.  
  
"The smell. That foul stench emitted by the guy who hired me. It   
was Black Baron`s, that shadow set me up to kill Crystallite,  
knowing that I`d fail and make her what she is! We`ve all been his  
puppets from the start!!!" explained Fenris, his breathing  
accelerating to a frenzied beat as his anger built up like it did  
in the old days.  
  
"So Black Baron`s behind all this? He`s the secret mastermind?"  
  
"That`s not the horrible part, darling..." said Fenris to Usagi.  
"I don`t think he acted alone. If my intuition is right... and it  
usually is... he`s working for somebody else. Somebody with enough  
power to dwarf his own." suggested Fenris.  
  
Usagi immediately knew exactly what the manwolf meant.  
  
"Oh god... we have to stop Crystallite from..." she said.  
  
"You`ll do no such thing!" interrupted an all too familiar voice  
for Fenris.  
  
"YOU! You`re the one who hired me to kill Crystallite!" he snarled  
as he saw the spanish looking blighted one walk down the stairs  
leading to the rooftop.  
  
"And you failed miserably I might add. Which is why you never got  
the other half of the deal we struck over her death." said   
Velasquez, coming into view of the two girls and the manbeast.  
  
"You set me up, miserable wretch of a knightmare!" said Fenris.  
  
"Of course... and considering how we never really intended you  
to kill her, but only maul her like you did and then watch over  
her for the next few years... five million is pretty cheap to hire  
the most lethal assassin money can buy!!!" laughed Velasquez,  
pulling his slim, jagged blade sword, a black flamberge.  
  
"You almost had me kill the love of my life... I`ll kill you for  
that, monster!" growled Fenris, his eyes glowing bright red.  
  
"No need for name calling, Fenris, I have a name you know. I`m  
Velasquez." promptly replied the blighted one, proud to be the  
only one of his kind to be allowed to bear a name. "And besides,  
you`d NEVER have met her if I hadn`t hired you to kill her."  
  
Fenris stopped advancing on him a moment to ponder this argument.  
  
"Point taken. I`ll kill you anyway, but I`ll make it quick!" came  
Fenris` answer, a wicked grin on his face. With that, he leaped on  
the blighted one and their battle began.  
  
USagi panicked thinking of Chibi Chibi`s safety, but... when she   
turned back to her, she was gone!!! She looked around but couldn`t  
see her anywhere... how could she leave a LOCKED room without a  
trace???  
  
"Go stop Crystallite, Sailor Moon! If you don`t, we ALL die!!!"  
urged Fenris as he wrestled Velasquez. "I`ll protect the little  
one from him!!!"  
  
She knew he was right. The secret mistress of Black Baron wasn`t  
even there yet but Usagi already felt its sickening presence choking  
up the atmosphere. She ran to the stairs, not knowing what she  
would do once she reached the top.  
  
All she knew was that she had no time to waste.  
  
* * *  
  
Endymion was bleeding again, and pretty bad. His metabolism was   
many times quicker to heal than most humans thanks to his powers,  
but it didn`t him much good this time. Whenever his hemorrage  
would stop, he`d painstakingly get back up on his feet to try and  
bash through the dark energy shield, succeeding only in opening  
his slash wound and bleeding himself one step closer to his death.  
  
"I won`t give up... I won`t give up... I won`t give up..." he  
muttered repeatedly to numb his mind to the searing pain. He got  
up again, raising his sword slowly with both hands firmly gripping  
the handle and striking it down on the shield.  
  
Once again, it merely bounced off as if it had struck a brick  
wall, his sudden motion causing even more damage to his already  
aggravated injury. He fell back to his knees again, his weapon  
slipping from his fingers and clanking down no the ground  
alongside his slumped body.  
  
"I won`t... give up... Usagi..." he muttered again, tears running  
on his blood stained face.  
  
"And neither should you do so." whispered a soft feminine voice  
approaching him.   
  
He turned his head to see the senshi dressed all in black, the  
original Sailor Saturn. She placed her gloved hand on his wound,  
and he felt the soothing warmth of her healing powers closing  
it for good, weaving the skin and muscle back to perfect shape.  
  
"Your strenght of character and noblety are proven yet again, my  
lord Endymion." said Saturn, smiling to Endymion who got back  
up, this time with little pain at all. "You`ve lost a lot of  
blood, be careful not to overextend yourself too fast."  
  
"Thank you..." he replied. Looking at her and at the others  
who were with her, this entire picture seemed... right somehow,  
like some great wrong finally put right. "You`re Hotaru, aren`t  
you?!?"  
  
Sailor Saturn bowed to the prince and offered her weapon as a  
sign of allegiance.  
  
"Kids grow up so fast..." observed Michiru.  
  
"Yeah... my sister`s already all grown up and destroying worlds!"  
added Robin. She got several angry stares in response to that  
comment.  
  
"She`s right you know... if this dark menace can`t be stopped...  
then all will come to silence by my hand." said Saturn in her  
gravest tone of voice.  
  
No one present dared to say anything more, simply staring up  
and silently praying Usagi would prevail.  
  
* * *  
  
Usagi ran up the stairs, the sounds of the battle between Fenris  
and Velasquez being progressively drowned out by the storm outside  
she was getting closer to with every step. When she got to the  
rooftop, she saw Crystallite standing there on her own and showing  
no apparent sign of weakness. She was giggling insanely, a chilling  
sound loaded with menace.  
  
"Crystallite, you have to stop this, you have no idea WHAT you`re  
about to unleash..." she pleaded to the young girl.  
  
When the redhead turned to face her, her eyes were glowing a  
powerful crimson glow. Usagi knew right there she was too late.  
  
"Nice to see you again, princess, glad to see you could make it  
for my triumphant return..." she cackled.  
  
As she taunted Usagi, a large shadow formed above her like a  
mighty predator of darkness standing ready to strike down its  
unwary prey. The ever growing shadow had eyes, evil eyes Usagi  
remembered only too well as she saw them whenever her slumber was  
haunted by nightmares from the past.  
  
"Now the fun REALLY begins..." said Crystallite, her voice deformed  
into a booming growl that echoed the thoughts of the primeval  
entity that had taken her over.  
  
"Metalia..." she let out in fear.  
  
  
To be continued...  



	52. Default Chapter Title

By Yohann DeSabrais  
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn  
  
  
Prologue...  
  
And to such things it came to be that the end came to the earth and  
its child race humanity, nearly wiping them out lest its champion  
daughter came forth and put a halt to this almighty force of pure  
darkness.  
  
The primeval force of darkness is not one that can be easily put  
down, and neither can its endless horde of minions. Humanity will  
once again be put to test by the very same force of evil, and the  
daughter champion will have to face it without its greatest weapon  
of light this time around.  
  
Hope yet lives for the child race however, as in all things lies  
the concept that they have simplified into a beautiful symbol they  
refer to as "Tao" or "Tai Chi". Opposite forces swirl into an a  
seemingly eternal flux, neither totally pure in its form and   
sharing some aspect of its polar opposite.  
  
Should they be able to understand the full implications of this  
concept, they might stand a chance to survive their impending  
doom... but it is not my place to judge upon their chances, as my  
task lies in greater plans within a cosmic game of chess which  
might be won by no one while Chaos takes all.  
  
I am become Gallagher, that is my name, it is also my fate.  
  
- exerpt from the Book of Gallagher  
  
* * *  
  
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 52  
  
HOLY TRINITY REAWAKENED  
  
  
"It`s been a long time since we last met." growled the evil voice  
of Metalia using Crystallite`s body as a channeling conduct. It`s  
massive presence was getting more and more overwhelming in the  
sky as it grew in size at a maddening speed and filled the dark  
energy shield raised by Crystallite to keep intruders out of  
the Poldzer Triangle. The dark crystal seemed to pulse in her  
hands, teeming with unholy life born out of countless death  
spanning several aeons.  
  
"I`ll never let you destroy this planet... or any other world for  
that matter." calmly said Usagi, lifting her head to meet the  
dreadful gaze of the great force of evil.  
  
"Aren`t you cute... powerless and still willing to fight... I`m  
almost touched by that foolishness! Rending your soul will be  
every bit as satisfying as I imagined while I was trapped in the  
Voyd all this time." replied Metalia.  
  
Usagi felt a long chill go down her spine- she had really bitten  
off more than she could chew this time.  
  
* * *  
  
"So what do we do? Stand around here like helpless dolts while  
Usagi gets shredded by whatever nameless evil force is behind  
all this?" violently protested Makoto as she rubbed her sore  
fists which had failed to breach through the dark shield.  
  
"It would certainly seem like it. My computer`s unable to get  
any readings, the signals must be getting blocked." said Ami,  
closing her laptop in defeat.  
  
"It`s not nameless. I know that feeling, I experienced it before  
from up close... both in this life and in my last." observed  
Endymion.  
  
"You don`t mean..." whispered Minako, horrified at what she   
thought he meant.  
  
"Metalia." he finished.  
  
"I`m afraid so..." said Sailor Saturn, her fingers squeezing her  
sacred weapon Silence just a little bit tighter. She did not wish  
to destroy the earth even if it meant the ultimate survival of   
the rest of the universe... but it was her duty, and she would  
fulfill it if it came to that.  
  
"I don`t know about you, but I`m NOT going to let ANYONE destroy  
this world, for whatever reason it is! I may have lived in it less  
than a year, but it`s my home and I love it!" protested Robin.  
  
"Who said anything about giving up?" said Seiya, clenching his  
fists. "We may be stuck behind this stupid shield, but there HAS  
to be something we can do!"  
  
"Indeed there is, Seiya." came a soft soothing voice emerging from  
the nearby shadows of surrounding buildings. Everyone turned around  
and saw a young and elegant girl with long red hair braided with  
delicate care. Her soft silk robes complemented to perfection her  
alabaster complexion, as did the golden royalty symbol adorning her  
forehead. Her eyes spoke volumes of the great love she carried in  
her heart and soul.  
  
"Princess..." muttered Seiya.  
  
"...Kakyuu..." followed Yaten.  
  
"...you`re here!" finished Taiki.  
  
"Yes indeed, my dear sisters." she replied.  
  
"SISTERS?!?" facevaulted Usako, Robin and Ami.  
  
The three boys looked at each other- they felt this required some  
explaining and trusted their newfound allies enough to reveal about   
their painful past.  
  
"You see, we were all orphaned at a very young age after Metalia   
destroyed our planets and wiped out our respective races..." said  
Taiki.  
  
"We were each found as the last survivor of our devastated worlds,  
and Queen Kakyoku welcomed us to Kinmoku, her kingdom, caring for  
us as her own daughters, raising us along with Kakyuu." said Yaten.  
  
"Yes, and I love each one of them equally." said Kakyuu, racing to  
the three boys and hugging them. "You look charming as men, you  
know that?" she observed, giggling.  
  
"Please don`t rub it in... I already feel awkward enough as it is."  
said Yaten, blushing.  
  
"I don`t know about that, this body is great for sport!" replied  
Seiya.  
  
"I had a feeling you`d appreciate it... you always complained that  
boys had the muscle advantage in competitions." said Kakyuu.  
  
"That never stopped Seiya from beating every guy who ever   
challenged her at anything!" commented Taiki.  
  
"Got that straight!" agreed Seiya.  
  
"So if I understand correctly... you are the princess of the   
kingdom of Kinmoku?" asked Endymion, to which she nodded. "Then,   
as prince of Earth, it is my pleasure to welcome both you and your   
sisters... you will always be welcome here."   
  
"I accept your hospitality graciously, prince." she replied.  
  
"Please call me Endymion." he replied.  
  
"This is all well and good, but we have a primal force of evil  
about to break loose here!" protested Makoto.  
  
"Which brings us to the reason of my presence..." explained Kakyuu,  
reaching in her long flowing sleeve and pulling out a small crystal  
sphere golden in color, sparkling along its seemingly endless  
facets.  
  
The senshi and the Starlights were astounded by the sight of the  
gold crystal. It beamed energy from within, pleasant and soothing.  
  
"It`s... marvelous..." uttered Michiru.  
  
"It feels... powerful..." observed Haruka.  
  
"I haven`t seen it in over a millenium." said Setsuna, in one of  
her rare moments of surprise.  
  
"It is for you, Endymion." said Kakyuu, handing the artifact over  
to Endymion who hesitated to pick it up.  
  
"Such a great crystal... I am not worthy of accepting your gift,  
princess!" he objected politely.  
  
"It is not mine to give, it never was. This, Endymion, is your  
birthright, entrusted to the royal family of Kinmoku following  
your death facing Metalia... it was sealed in our deepest vaults  
until our scryers found that were reincarnated, and had need of it  
to fight Metalia again. Please accept it... it is yours." said  
Kakyuu, urging him to take the crystal, which he did.  
  
The instant he closed his hand on the crystal, he felt a great  
surge of power infuse him, granting him the strength to do great  
things now and in the future, to help his dear love Usagi forge  
a better world for all of humanity. Lifting his arm intuitively,  
he unleashed a large flare of golden light which swept over the  
senshi and their allies. Within seconds, their wounds began to   
close and heal, the unconscious Umino and Naru slowly starting to  
regain their senses while Ronmar and Quartzite found themselves  
able to get to their feet again, albeit very slowly.   
  
It was the greatest feeling he could experience... and it also   
allowed him to extend his sense further than ever before to feel   
Usagi`s presence, the danger she felt and the fear that gripped   
her soul- but he could tell she was still alive.  
  
"She`s safe... for now... I don`t know how she`s resisting to the  
power of Metalia!" said Endymion, goldne energy flaring from the  
crystal into his hand, through his arm and to his whole body.  
  
Four forms appeared in front of Endymion, ethereal and diffuse, but  
nearly everyone present recognized the four generals of Beryl.  
  
"It is because we have been protecting her from the evil attempting  
to crush her soul." said Jedite.  
  
"We have been using whatever spiritual energy we have at our   
disposal to shield her soul from Metalia." explained Kunzite.  
  
"We will not be able to hold on for very long though, but once  
the princess finds her true power, she will have the strength to  
defeat her enemy once again... provided she does not escape before  
that can happen." said Zoisite.  
  
"Why are doing this all of a sudden? You always tried to destroy  
us!" objected Minako. The others agreed.  
  
"We must appologize for this, my prince... in your last incarnation,  
we were your bodyguards... your friends even. We were seduced by  
the evil of Beryl, and fell into her trap, turning into her tools  
to bring destruction to your worlds." said Nephryte.  
  
"We can never atone for all the sins we commited, but at least  
allow us to give part of our essence to right some splinter of the  
evil we were responsible for." added Jedite.  
  
"Thank you... for protecting the woman I love... I can never repay  
you for what you have done today, I`m afraid." told them Endymion,  
his heart saddened that the deceased generals could only find their  
redemption in death.  
  
"Your kind words are more than we could have hoped for... we must  
forfeit our visible forms now, so that we may extend our spiritual  
shield over Sailor Moon for just a few moments more... we will   
never meet again, but the memory will live in our hearts, my   
prince." said Zoisite, a graceful smile gracing his face, a smile  
devoid of any malice that made him look like an angel.  
  
"You will be remembered forever, old friends... I promise you..."  
said Endymion, saluting his former allies from a lifetime ago.  
  
Naru stepped forward timidly, making herself seen by the slowly  
vanishing spirits. She hesitantly reached forward, trying to touch  
the hand of Nephryte who smiled as his own hand touched hers. Naru`s  
fingers went right through his, but she still felt the gentle touch  
she hadn`t experienced in so long.  
  
"I`ve missed you Naru..." he whispered, his form fading away into the  
night.  
  
"I... I still..." she tried to say, her silent tears choking the   
words in her throat.  
  
"No need for words, my lady... I feel the same." said Nephryte.  
Seeing Umino approaching him as well, he smiled. "Is he your  
chosen one?" he asked Naru.  
  
She sniffled and nodded. The general smiled and looked at the  
brave young man who had risked his life to save the woman he loved  
from a horrible death.  
  
"Take good care of her... she`s more precious than anything in this  
universe." urged Nephryte to Umino.  
  
"I swear to you that I will give my life again to protect hers."  
he replied, hugging Naru and holding her close. She cuddled to him  
and felt sorrow fill her heart as her old flamme vanished forever.  
  
"I believe you..." were his last words as the four spirits   
disappeared.  
  
* * *  
  
"And now... to end this once and for all!" threatened the voice  
of the monstrous entity through the frail body of her puppet. The  
immense shadow looming overhead that was now filling the entire   
space defined by the black shield moved towards Usagi.  
  
"I`ll resist you to the end, Metalia, in memory of all those you  
killed!!!" screamed Usagi, her soul chilled beyond anything she  
ever felt.  
  
"It doesn`t matter... your death will only take a few seconds  
longer." replied Metalia.  
  
Forming hands out of its shapeless mass, it reached out for the  
young blonde girl and engulfed her in total darkness. This was  
nothing like the night she knew of when she slept, for this gentle  
veil was adorned by sparkling stars, silvery moonlight and the  
promise of delightful dreams.  
  
This darkness was a total absence of light, a crusher of hope,  
the ultimate harbinger of death and destruction. The very concept  
of evil incarnated in all its terrifying simplicity.  
  
Usagi lost consciousness- or at least she thought she did. This  
darkness around her and the comatose state she had experienced   
on a few occasions were virtually indistinguishable from each  
other.  
  
Falling at a speed she couldn`t evaluate, soaring to some hellish  
death she dared not imagine, her soul yelled out for help, her  
hands flailing in a vain attempt to hold on to something that could  
slow her fall.  
  
"HELP MEEEEEEE!!!" she yelled out, but there was no one to hear  
her.  
  
She was alone against a massive evil, and her powers were gone.  
  
* * *  
  
"USAGI! HOLD ON, WE`ll SAVE YOU!" yelled Endymion as he heard the  
pleas for help his one true love was sending out in a frantic  
manner.  
  
"She`s not holding up, I`m afraid... if she cannot find the   
strength to defeat Metalia, I will have no other choice but to  
fulfill my destined role." said Sailor Saturn, holding out her  
sacred glaive in a dramatic pose to give more weight to her words.  
  
"But she can still do it! She has the generals protecting her soul,  
she`ll live long enough to do it!" protested Makoto, horrified that  
Hotaru would destroy the world already before her friend was given  
a chance to prove herself. She remembered that a few years before  
when she had gotten to know Usagi, the entire team was doubting  
her ability to be leader, questionning her right to hold the moon  
crescent wand, but she had stuck by her, insisting that she be  
given a chance.  
  
In the end, Usagi had proven herself by defeating Metalia.  
  
"That is not the problem." replied Saturn. "Metalia has swelled  
up to the extent of being restricted by the dark energy shield`s  
size- she will break out at any second now."  
  
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" objected Endymion. "But  
I`ll need everybody`s help for this."  
  
"You got it!" assured Rei, speaking on behalf of everyone.  
  
Holding tight the crystal in his hand, Endymion raised it high  
and summoned all its strength.  
  
"GOLD CRYSTAL OF EARTH, GIVE US POWER TO HOLD BACK THE TIDES  
OF DARKNESS FROM CRASHING ON YOUR CHILDREN!" he called forth,  
a brilliant surge of golden energy flaring around him like an  
aura whose glow matched that of the messiah during her awakening.  
"LET THE POWER OF THE CRYSTAL BE YOURS TO USE!"  
  
The senshi knew intuitively what to do. They stepped forward  
boldly, the Starlights powering up and standing behind waiting  
to see what would happen. The power surging through Endymion  
went right to the twelve senshi who applied their hands to the  
dark shield- in an instant, the dark barrier turned a brilliant  
color of gold under their touch, and this golden hue spread to  
the entire shield surface within moments, fueled by the power of  
the crystal.  
  
Kakyuu and the Starlights gasped in awe. Umino and Shingo felt  
their hearts fill with pride over the remarkable achievement of  
the women they loved. Even Quartzite and Ronmar were taken aback   
by this remarkable display of power.   
  
From within the shield, Metalia bellowed in anger as it realized  
its clever defensive wall had been turned against her, becoming  
the proverbial golden cage.  
  
Although she said nothing and showed no sign of emotion, Hotaru  
was smiling on the inside. Maybe humanity stood a chance after all.  
  
* * *  
  
Her throat began to feel wracked from screaming so much, so Usagi  
stopped. She felt like she was lying on the rooftop again... or the  
ground... or some kind of plateau, wherever she was.  
  
She took a look at her body, and realized that her clothes were  
gone, her soft skin covered with goosebumps as the warmth of her  
wool sweater and tight denim jeans was gone. Her feet were chilled  
to the bone, as were her shivering hands.  
  
Alone in absolute darkness, she wasn`t sure if she was still   
conscious, or even alive.  
  
Then, huge glowing red eyes opened before her, staring at her,  
filled with pure hatred. The young girl knew she had to still  
be alive at that point, although whether this was a good thing she  
couldn`t tell.  
  
"You resist me..." growled a booming voice echoing in the void.  
  
"I`ll never give up..." replied Usagi, trying to cover her naked  
body with her arms as best she could.  
  
"Why do you fight me so? It`s a futile effort, one that no one is  
strong enough to gain anything by." mocked Metalia.  
  
A young shrill scream of pain pierced the darkness and chilled   
Usagi`s soul. She recognized the voice, and she was joined in this  
null zone of reality by another young girl, one she had fought only  
minutes before.  
  
The young Crystallite fell down out of nowhere in front of Usagi,  
her frail form stripped of all clothing as well. She was shivering  
too, but not out of cold, rather from an inconceivably terrible  
fear that warped her wounded spirit. Usagi knelt next to her and  
hugged her tightly, noticing the horrible scars on her chest. She  
shed a tear for her enemy who was no more in her arms than a  
frightened child searching desperately for some human warmth.  
  
"What have you done to her?" she asked Metalia, her courage slowly  
returning.  
  
"I molded her to my purpose using that wolf man she calls her   
lover, and now that she served her purpose, she has become useless  
to me. Her miserable life is worth no more to me than yours."  
  
"Help me... make the pain go away... please make this pain inside  
go away..." cried Crystallite as she held on to Usagi for dear life,  
tears flowing from her eyes.  
  
Usagi looked back and forth between Crystallite and Metalia,  
feeling sad for the woman whom she hated just seconds before she  
came to realize how wounded she was inside and wondering how she  
could possibly defeat the force of evil.  
  
She knew there had to be something, her intuition was screaming  
to her that there was an answer, a single beautiful, luminous  
and perfect solution to this.  
  
If only she could put her finger on it.  
  
* * *  
  
The power flowed with nearly no limits from the small gold crystal  
in Endymion`s hands, flowing through the senshi and their messiah  
and out of their hands to stregthen the gold energy wall that was  
halting the further progress of Metalia and buying Usagi that much  
more time to triumph.  
  
It was rapidly becoming apparent though that the primal force of  
evil was growing in strength and would overpower them soon if  
nothing was done.  
  
"Seiya, Yaten, Taiki... our new friends need our help!" said Kakyuu  
to her sisters who agreed. In a flash of brilliant light, they   
transformed into their female Starlight forms again.  
  
"FIGHTER STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
"HEALER STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
"MAKER STAR POWER MAKEUP!"  
  
Their bodies slimming and becoming more feminine, the three boys  
were once again sailor senshi ready to fight against evil. Knowing  
what their princess had in mind, they immediately went into  
action. Taiki moved behind Ami and placed her hands on the smart  
girl`s shoulders. Seiya did the same with Usako, and Yaten with  
Robin. Immediately, Kakyuu began chanting in her native tongue,  
a sweet symphony of life and love relating the story of her people  
and her homeworld. Soothing golden energy flowed from her body  
as her aura expanded and reached out for her sisters.  
  
Allowing themselves to feel their love for Ami, Usako and Robin  
flow freely towards the women they love, the Starlights thus  
gave this energy to the young girls who felt this love caress  
their heart and energize their spirit, strengthening them and in  
turn the shield itself.  
  
"I love you..." whispered Usako.  
  
"I need you by my side..." said Robin.  
  
"You make me feel whole..." said Ami.  
  
The Starlights replied silently by moving their hands from their  
shoulders down to their waists, encircling them gently and hugging  
them lovingly, giving them even more energy as they felt their  
newfound loves` emotions as though their spirits were now one.  
  
Seeing this touching scene, Umino and Shingo did the same. They  
hugged their girlfriends and within this field of energy, their  
emotions were transferred directly to them. Naru returned her love  
to her boyfriend, although it was also laced with sorrow, the  
memory of her first love reawakened by the encounter of the  
spiritual form of Nephryte.  
  
"I`m sorry... even though I love you more than life, I can never   
stop loving him as well..." she whispered to Umino, feeling  
ashamed of her feelings.  
  
"I would never ask you to do such a thing, my love... hold his  
love preciously in your heart... it`s what makes you so precious  
to me." he replied, holding her close to him. As he said so, the  
amount of energy flowing from Naru more than doubled.  
  
Shingo looked at all the other couples, their love flowing back  
and forth, and he knew that his poor Laurella was not capable of  
feeling anything since her deadly encounter with Black Baron  
who overloaded her empathic senses with his monstrously vile  
presence.  
  
"Laurella... I know you can`t tell right now, but I love you  
very much... we rescued each other from our inner demons and  
we grew stronger for it, and it doesn`t matter to me if you  
never feel anything again... I`ll always be there for you!"  
he told his girlfriend, hugging her close even though she felt  
cold to his love.  
  
Shingo`s love energy flowed from him all the way into her heart,  
and suddenly she felt something familiar. It was a warm, fuzzy  
feeling, the impression that no matter what happened, she would  
always find comfort in these arms, that whatever evil would come  
he would be there to fight alongside.  
  
That if someone tried to kill her, he would throw himself to take  
the killing blow in her place without a second thought to his own  
life.  
  
"I remember this..." she whispered, as her catatonic heart slowly  
reawakened. "I remember us... I remember LOVE!" she screamed out in  
joy as her emotions gushed freely like a water spring piercing the  
ground to soar to the sky. "I love you, Shingo!"  
  
The shield was now so much stronger as to hold Metalia a lot   
longer, but not forever- Usagi would need to find the answer to  
victory by herself, and fast.  
  
* * *  
  
"Your defenses are getting low, little rabbit, and when they waver  
enough I shall rip you apart." said Metalia to USagi, her evil  
red eyes looming above her and the sobbing Crystallite.  
  
For some reason, Usagi had the very distinct feeling that she was  
missing something, that somehow she held all the pieces to figuring  
a way to defeat Metalia and unconsciously knew the answer already.  
  
She remembered some advice Naru had given her a few weeks before:  
  
"When you want to access the vast amount of information tucked away  
in the part of your brain that your conscious mind can`t reach,   
simply let it wander. Let the thoughts come and go as they will,  
allowing them to freely unlock their mysteries."  
  
Holding on to Crystallite who hugged her in a frantic need for  
protection, Usagi closed her eyes and let her mind wander without  
direction. She thought of Black Baron being defeated by Chibi Chibi,  
of his black, evil nature. She remembered the glorious moment of  
the messiah appearing to the eleven soul powered senshi to bring  
defeat to Aebonite at D-point, but then her thoughts took a turn  
for the weirder.  
  
At first she resisted, but she let her defenses down from these  
strange ideas. She saw a pair of huge dragons in a strange dance,  
one completely white with dark black eyes and the other jet black  
with shiny silver eyes. Both of them swirled around in the most  
peculiar dance that was both fighting and mating, each one running  
after the other in an endless circle that cycled on and on.  
  
Then Usagi opened her eyes, her mind blown away by the sheer power  
of the brainstorm she was experiencing. She had it, she knew just  
what to do.  
  
"Any last words, wretched whelps, before I kill you both?" asked  
the menacing voice.  
  
"You may want to kill me, but I believe you will spare Crystallite."  
replied Usagi, her voice suddenly filled with hope.  
  
"And why is that little one?"  
  
"Because in your own sick, twisted and warped way... you care for  
her." said Usagi, smiling to the young girl as she gently combed  
her tangled hair with her fingers.  
  
"I care for NO ONE!!!" bellowed the angry voice.  
  
"You took every precaution that she would grow up just the way you  
wanted her to be, molded her in your image... just like a mother  
would."  
  
"SILENCE!!!"  
  
"Also, the way you taught the art of soul weaving to Black Baron,  
it shows great dedication and respect on your part." added Usagi.  
  
"NO, THAT IS NOT TRUE, I DESPISE ALL THAT LIVES!!!"  
  
"And did you not give your servant Beryl countless chances to   
redeem herself in your eyes despite her repeated failures? Does  
that not show your ability for mercy... and forgiveness?"  
  
"LIES! ALL LIES, I HAVE NO SUCH FAILINGS!" crackled the horrid  
voice, thunder booming in response to her words.  
  
Metalia`s protests came too late as the words of the innocent and  
caring girl had carved deep through its endless layers of stacked  
mental defenses, bypassing what had been erected to resist brutal  
force but was defenseless against human compassion.  
  
A single spark of shining silver light appeared through the pitch  
darkness, sparkling and radiant, soothing and wonderful in its  
brilliance. Moving by itself through the air, it went to Usagi  
who welcomed it with tears of happiness.  
  
Out of pure intuition and through her unlimited to love even that  
which is totally evil and corrupt, Usagi had summoned through the  
sea of vileness the single focused splinter of goodness from within  
Metalia... she had just mimicked the exact gestures of the very first  
moon goddess Selene, and forged anew the silver crystal.  
  
"NO!!! THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!" screamed Metalia.  
  
"Believe it." said Usagi with a smile as a blazing silver aura  
engulfed her and Crystallite.  
  
* * *  
  
"I can`t hold on much longer..." whispered Endymion as his strength  
waned gradually, until he was no longer able to focus the power of  
the gold crystal. His aura of energy going silent, the entire  
effort of the senshi to hold a golden forcefield against Metalia  
was reduced to nothing, the barrier breaking up and collapsing  
immediately.  
  
"We`re finished..." mumbled Robin, hugging Yaten for what she  
believed would be the last time.  
  
Without waiting any further, Sailor Saturn rose her silent glaive  
and began charging the weapon with the energy to activate the  
single greatest senshi attack in the universe, one strong enough  
to erradicate an entire planet.  
  
"DEATH... REBORN... REV..." she started to scream, but was   
interrupted by Endymion before she could finish her last word.  
  
"LOOK UP THERE!" he yelled, pointing to the top of the main   
building where suddenly there was a shining silver light.  
  
"I think she did it!" replied Rei, her heart warmed by the thought  
of her good friend once again coming through.  
  
"Hope yet lives..." whispered Hotaru, unable this time to contain  
her smile.  
  
* * *  
  
"I`LL RIP YOU BOTH TO SHREDS, AND THEN RIP YOUR SHREDS TO NOTHING!"  
yelled Metalia, her voice echoing throughout the entire city.  
  
she tried to lower her "hands" onto Usagi and Crystallite again, but  
the two girls who were now out of Metalia`s darkness had around   
them the protection of the silver crystal`s glow. Silver magic   
ribbons of energy were surrounding Usagi, while Crystallite was  
standing by her side, a swirl of black ribbons coming from her  
jagged black crystal to cover her body as well.  
  
"We now stand united against you, Metalia!" replied Crystallite.  
As she concentrated on using the black crystal to defeat her  
former ally and help the senshi, her wish was realized- the  
jagged edges of her crystal suddenly detached from the surface,  
leaving only a smooth surfaced black sphere in her hands as  
eleven dark splinters flew off.  
  
One of them returned to Usagi, the others to the rest of the  
senshi. Crystallite was astonished to see Usagi retrieve her  
sailor senshi form, and an improved one at that. Her fuku was  
now colored in white and shades of pink, with a full breastplate  
and shoulder pads in addition to the complete tigh protectors  
where she saw the engraved kanji BISHOUJO SENSHI.  
  
"The others have regained their powers too, haven`t they?"  
she asked.  
  
"Yes, I can feel them returning to their full strength!" replied  
Usagi who smiled with the most beautiful expression of joy that  
the daughter of Beryl had ever seen.  
  
The black energy did something similar for Crystallite, clothing  
her in a magnificient flowing black gown. She also felt a strange  
tingling sensation in her chest, one very warm and pleasant.  
  
Working together, the black and silver powers were healing her  
horribly scarred chest, and she felt herself grow stronger as the  
wounds she had incurred from Fenris` deadly attack over three years  
before were finally healed.  
  
Her heart had been regenerated completely.  
  
"What now... friend?" asked Crystallite who pointed to Metalia  
hovering above their heads.  
  
"Just lend me your strength... I`ll do the rest!"  
  
Both girls lifted their crystals. The rejuvenated Sailor Moon  
concentrated on calling forth what she now knew to be her ultimate  
attack.  
  
Through means unknown to even Usagi herself, all light in a radius  
spanning several hundred feet was drawn to her, absorbed directly  
within the silver crystal and leaving the entire area totally  
dark for a fraction of a second... until she pointed the crystal  
to Metalia, screaming her power words:  
  
"MOON SOUL ECLIPSE!!!"  
  
A single point of light emerged from the crystal, soaring towards  
the force of evil and detonating on impact, flooding the area  
with a lethal blast of purifying light that not even the Poldzer   
Triangle could withstand, the trio of immense buildings collapsing  
where they stood while Metalia was being erradicated from this  
world.  
  
And then silence fell.  
  
* * *  
  
"Usagi... you`re still alive?" came the voice of Crystallite,   
waking her up. Looking around, she saw that both her and the  
young red haired girl were trapped under a pile of rubble, not  
the smallest ray of light filtering through. Only the soft glow  
of their crystals provided any light at all.  
  
"Yeah... I hurt too much to be dead." she complained.  
  
"I almost wish I was myself..." said Crystallote, her voice  
growing sad.  
  
"How come?" asked Usagi, hearing the sound of some people above  
them picking through the rubble. At least, the rescue was coming,  
she thought.  
  
"Because I lost the only reason I had left to live... my precious  
Fenris... I won`t hate you for killing him because he was trying  
to do the same to you, but..." she tried to explain, but she   
just started sobbing in Usagi`s arms.  
  
"Crystallite... there`s something you haven`t seen... Fenris didn`t  
die when I stabbed him! His wolf body healed itself, he was only  
comatose from the immense shock he received!" told her Usagi, the  
news putting a sudden halt on the girl`s crying. "He was fighting  
off a blighted one called Velasquez to give me a chance to reach  
you in time before Metalia seized you!"  
  
"He... lived??? Do you think he survived the building`s complete  
destruction?"  
  
"We`re both here, aren`t we?" answered Usagi just as a large piece   
of rubble was removed from above their heads, freeing them both.  
  
"There is our hero!" said Endymion who picked up Usagi and pulled  
her out of the hole as if she was a paper doll, his joy giving him  
nearly superhuman strength all of a sudden.  
  
"I had help... guys, I`d like you to meet Crystallite!" said Usagi,  
pointing to the red haired girl as she climbed out all by herself,  
feeling great about her newfound health.  
  
"I`d like it if you just called me 'Crystal' from now on..." she  
said, smiling shyly. She looked around left and right, hoping to  
see her lover anywhere.  
  
And she did. A huge chunk of smashed concrete blew to pieces, the  
flying dust settling to reveal a huge manwolf holding a black metal  
flamberge. As he threw it down, everyone could see that there was   
still a black gloved hand attached to the handle.  
  
"Velasquez wasn`t kidding when he said I`d have to rip his hand to  
make him drop his weapon!" boasted the manwolf, flexing his huge  
muscles to add more dramatic effect.  
  
"FENRIS!!!" yelled Crystal, tears of happiness rolling down her face  
as she ran into his arms.  
  
"Crystallite... my love... you can run on your own!" observed Fenris,  
totally amazed.  
  
"It`s all thanks to my new friends!" she replied, looking back to  
see the sailor senshi who now had all recovered their powers. "And  
honey... call me Crystal from now, okay?"  
  
"As you wish my love..." he replied before placing his lips on hers.  
  
Following their lead, all couples present exchanged passionate   
kisses under the soft light of the full moon that was now gleaming  
in the night sky devoid of any storm clouds, all gone without a trace  
along with their source, the evil named Metalia.  
  
  
The End  
  
* * *  
  
I`d like to give special thanks to all my friends, in particular  
Kenton, Galos, Sonya, Sailor Mac, Mark, Steve and Alhanna...   
for supporting my efforts, spotting the glaring and the not so  
obvious errors that slipped themselves in my drafts which they  
proofread for me and for generally putting up with me :)  
  
Well, this has been a LONG cycle this time... I never expected  
it would last so many chapters (or that I would even break the  
50 chapter mark AT ALL with this serie!) but here we are.  
  
To all my readers... thank you for bearing with me for so long,  
and I still have plenty to write about, so this particular serie  
is far from over! Stay tuned gang, because starting next chapter...  
  
OLD GRIEVANCES COME DUE!!!  



End file.
